  S The story of S is Sadness. Monday in the Garden and a lovely day. Just enough air stirring to rustle the leaves soothingly. Tuesday, another such day. Wednesday, if anything better. S, as described in this passage Thursday, a wonderful day, languorous with the perfume of flowers. The birds never sang so sweetly, the butterflies never seemed so brilliant. The little silver brook fell into the lake with so soothing a sound and the drowsy hum of the bee was like a lullaby. Such a dreamy contentment seemed to pervade the whole Garden. Like the breath of a rose a caressing zephyr sighed overhead and creaked ever so little the old signboard nestled among the leaves. The old signboard with this inscription in quaint characters, “Quamdiu se bene gesserit.” Adam looked up from where he lolled in the soft grass and smiled as at an old friend. He stretched and drew a deep breath of content. The day seemed the most wonderful he had known. Friday, Black Friday they called it afterward, broke clear and bright, but on the horizon great piles of black cloud and far off the ominous muttering of thunder. All nature seemed nervous and a-tremble. The breeze was fitful and petulant and the hush of some impending evil hung over the Garden. The old signboard creaked sharply. Poor Adam! (Poor Us!!!) There confronting him was this word in fresh bright paint, “SKYDDU” (See Note) That night it rained. Oh, how it rained! Because this symbol (see cut), pronounced es like the hiss of a serpent, can be traced back to the day the Adams moved, and which stood for Sin, Scandal, Shame, Sorrow, Scorn, Satire, Suspicion, Scowl, and Selfishness, people have been willing to accept Adam’s story, and the poor old serpent has been made the scapegoat in the whole affair. We have gone very carefully into this matter, and we find that Adam was a lazy poet and dreamer and was put out of Eden for not paying his rent. The girls under S will be Stylish, Sentimental, Sincere, and Simple in their tastes, while the men will be Silver-tongued and Smooth. Note:—This quaint form of Dispossess Notice we find used all through the Stone and Iron Ages. Secret. A feminine invention for the rapid dissemination of news. Sense. The safest fuel for the flame on Love’s Altar. Sensitiveness. A symptom. Sentiment. Baedeker to the Land of Love. Tells you what to admire. Sigh. The rustle of a caged cupid’s wings. Silence. If silence gives consent, how is it women marry? Sin. A matter of opinion. What other people do and we talk about. Sofa. A receptacle for spoons. Spoon. An arrangement for supplying nourishment to the lovesick. Suspicion. A hair of the wrong color. Sympathy. Love’s sister. |
|
