I, for one, would not blame the old gentleman who
should pick up a stone and hurl it at one of these Tartuffes and
Chadbands of the street-corner with their chubby, gilded hands reposing
on their prosperous stomachs, sleek and smug and ultra-respectable, but
unconscionable liars for all that. They are not content with their own
success in cheating, they throw discredit upon honest folk. How many a
faithful pocket-piece has been pulled out by its disappointed owner and
actually set wrong to make it agree with one of these rubicund old
sinners? Such is the overpowering effect of impudent assurance on the
ordinary man.
The difference between the typical public clock and a watch out of order
is obvious. Every prudent man knows the peculiarities of his own watch,
just as he knows the peculiarities of his own wife and children; and he
is consequently prepared to make allowances. But the clock on the street
corner persists in thrusting false information upon you. The man who
consults his watch does so with a purpose, and is naturally on the
alert. But the cheating clock confronts him in moments of unsuspecting
security, and throws him into a condition of the wildest alarm.
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