Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/218

 MARK ;T WAIN* /!HI flftTJ

newspaper information in other ways; i For instance, it does not allow newspapers to -be sold on the streets; therefore the newsboy is unknown in Vienna. .(And there is a stamp duty of nearly, a cent, upon ;each copy of a newspaper s issue. Every American paper that reaches me has a stamp upon it, which has been pasted there in the post-office or downstairs in the hotel office ; but no matter who put it there&amp;gt; ; I have to pay for it, and that is the main thing. Sometimes friends send me so many papers that it takes all I can earn that week to keep this government going.

I must take passing notice of another point in the Everybody says it does not like to see any individual attain to commanding influence in the country,. since such a man can become a disturber and an incon venience. We have as much talent as the other nations,&quot; says the citizen, resignedly, and without bitterness, &quot;but for the sake of the general good of the country we, are discouraged from making it over- conspicuous; and not only discouraged, but t^ct- fully and skillfully prevented from doing it, if we show too much persistence. Consequently ; we have no. renowned men; in centuries we have seldom pro duced one that is, seldom allowed one to produce himself. We can say to-day What no other nation of first importance in the family of Christian civili zations can say: that there exists no; Austrian who has made an enduring name for himself which &amp;gt; is if a- miliar all around the globe.&quot;

Another helper toward tranquillity is- the army. It is as pervasive as the atmosphere. -It is evfery-

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