Roundabout Papers - Penn State University

Roundabout Paperspancy. Agreed. When the vowel in question is in thatmood, if you like airy gayety and tender gushing benevolence—ifyou want to be satisfied with yourselfand the rest of your fellow-beings; I recommend you,my dear creature, to go to some other shop in Cornhill,or turn to some other article. There are moods in themind of the vowel of which we are speaking, when it isill-conditioned and captious. Who always keeps goodhealth, and good humor? Do not philosophers grumble?Are not sages sometimes out of temper? and do notangel-women go off in tantrums? To-day my mood isdark. I scowl as I dip my pen in the inkstand.Here is the day come round—for everything here isdone with the utmost regularity:—intellectual labor,sixteen hours; meals, thirty-two minutes; exercise, ahundred and forty-eight minutes; conversation with thefamily, chiefly literary, and about the housekeeping,one hour and four minutes; sleep, three hours and fifteenminutes (at the end of the month, when the Magazineis complete, I own I take eight minutes more); andthe rest for the toilette and the world. Well, I say, theRoundabout Paper Day being come, and the subject longsince settled in my mind, an excellent subject—a mosttelling, lively, and popular subject—I go to breakfastdetermined to finish that meal in 9 3/4 minutes, asusual, and then retire to my desk and work, when—oh,provoking!—here in the paper is the very subjecttreated, on which I was going to write! Yesterday anotherpaper which I saw treated it—and of course, as Ineed not tell you, spoiled it. Last Saturday, anotherpaper had an article on the subject; perhaps you mayguess what it was—but I won’t tell you. Only this istrue, my favorite subject, which was about to make thebest paper we have had for a long time: my bird, mygame that I was going to shoot and serve up with sucha delicate sauce, has been found by other sportsmen;and pop, pop, pop, a half-dozen of guns have banged atit, mangled it, and brought it down.“And can’t you take some other text?” say you. Allthis is mighty well. But if you have set your heart on acertain dish for dinner, be it cold boiled veal, or whatyou will, and they bring you turtle and venison, don’t134