Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/192

 MARK TWAIN

right by one which could have been answered with deadly facts? facts in everybody s reach, facts which none can dispute. I asked what France could teach us about government. I laid myself pretty wide open, there; and I thought I was handsomely generous, too, when I did it. France can teach us how to levy village and city taxes which distrib ute the burden with a nearer approach to perfect fairness than is the case in any other land; and she can teach us the wisest and surest system of col lecting them that exists. She can teach us how to elect a President in a sane way ; and also how to do it without throwing the country into earthquakes and convulsions that cripple and embarrass business, stir up party hatred in the hearts of men, and make peaceful people wish the term extended to thirty years. France can teach us but enough of that part of the question. And what else can France teach us? She can teach us all the fine arts and does. She throws open her hospitable art acade mies, and says to us, &quot;Come&quot; and we come, troops and troops of our young and gifted; and she sets over us the ablest masters in the world and bearing the greatest names; and she teaches us all that we are capable of learning, and persuades us and encourages us with prizes and honors, much as if we were somehow children of her own; and when this noble education is finished and we are ready to carry it home and spread its gracious ministries abroad over our nation, and we come with homage and gratitude and ask France for the bill there is nothing to pay. And in return for this

�� �