Quotation from: The People of the AbyssWritten by: Jack London |
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No sooner was I out on the streets than I was impressed by the difference in status effected by my clothes. All servility vanished from the demeanour of the common people with whom I came in contact. Presto! in the twinkling of an eye, so to say, I had become one of them. My frayed and out-at-elbows jacket was the badge and advertisement of my class, which was their class. It made me of like kind, and in place of the fawning and too respectful attention I had hitherto received, I now shared with them a comradeship. The man in corduroy and dirty neckerchief no longer addressed me as "sir" or "governor." It was "mate" now--and a fine and hearty word, with a tingle to it, and a warmth and gladness, which the other term does not possess. Governor! It smacks of mastery, and power, and high authority--the tribute of the man who is under to the man on top, delivered in the hope that he will let up a bit and ease his weight, which is another way of saying that it is an appeal for alms.
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| Old Dominion University CS Dept Designed by Joan A. Smith for the CRATE project Created: 2007-2-22T12:35:29Z Part of the CratePreservation Project Change Tag: ~~ 0 ~~ |
| Part of a series of experiments in web preservation under the direction of Michael L. Nelson, Ph.D. |