PARTISAN REVIEW
did not remember his joke about Zelda until she had passed by
without greeting either horse or rider. "Well," said the soldier to
his horse, "how did you make out?" The horse broke into a wild
gallop, tripped over a root and fell, breaking his leg. The maSter
was not hurt. "Now," thought the horse, "he will shoot me, and
it's just as well."
2. A CLERK
A certain government clerk, who held a minor post in the local
branch of the local division of the general office, made an appoint–
ment, after much wheedling and intrigue, with another government
clerk, who held a more important post in the same branch of the
same division of the same office. The minor clerk was seeking to
advance himself and was prepared to raise charges against another
clerk, who stood in his way. To make the best possible impression
on his superior, he laid out his best suit, his Sunday shoes, and a
white shirt which had been boiled and starched in the laundry.
Before dressing, he shaved himself. He had had
in
mind going to
the barber, but when he thought of the price of the shave, and
of the tip, which in this case would have had to be a little more
handsome than usual-barbers have a way of undermining the repu–
tations of those who displease them- the clerk decided to shave
himself. He lathered his face, stropped his razor and set to work,
first on one cheek, then on the other. He had cleared his face of
stubble, suffering only a few scratches, which didn't bleed much.
The neck, the most difficult part of his beard to shave, he left for
the last. He worked from the chin down, and was finally satisfied
that he had shaved
his
neck well enough, when he noticed quite a
number of long hairs growing up from his chest. He removed his
undershirt and shaved these hairs, too. There was certainly a line
beyond which he need not have continued. But whether from care–
lessness or the habit of carefulness which he had acquired in his
work, he went beyond this line, and having brought his razor deep
into the thick, close hairs that grew on his chest, he thought he
might as well shave all his chest. This he did, not without difficulty.
When his chest was free of hair, he noticed that a thin strip of hair
ran down the middle of his body, and he went on to shave this, too,
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