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THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

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Dissenters.<br />

<strong>Ambrose</strong> <strong>Bierce</strong> The Devil’s Dictionary<br />

DUCK‐BILL, n. Your account at your restaurant during the canvas‐back<br />

season.<br />

DUEL, n. A formal ceremony preliminary to the reconciliation of two<br />

enemies. Great skill is necessary to its satisfactory observance; if<br />

awkwardly performed the most unexpected and deplorable consequences<br />

sometimes ensue. A long time ago a man lost his life in a duel.<br />

That dueling's a gentlemanly vice<br />

I hold; and wish that it had been my lot<br />

To live my life out in some favored spot‐‐<br />

Some country where it is considered nice<br />

To split a rival like a fish, or slice<br />

A husband like a spud, or with a shot<br />

Bring down a debtor doubled in a knot<br />

And ready to be put upon the ice.<br />

Some miscreants there are, whom I do long<br />

To shoot, to stab, or some such way reclaim<br />

The scurvy rogues to better lives and manners,<br />

I seem to see them now‐‐a mighty throng.<br />

It looks as if to challenge _me_ they came,<br />

Jauntily marching with brass bands and banners!<br />

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