my disordered vision and make me wonder 

 whether the community I belong to is really an 

 enlightened and civilized one. The coronation 

 and the grotesqueness of its pageants makes me 

 reflect how the gods must laugh, if their exer- 

 cising any such human attribute is conceivable, 

 to see poor humanity, who can not add a cubit to 

 its stature, a day to its life, or control even any of 

 the local physical forces which constantly threaten 

 its very existence, masquerading and strutting 

 about in its borrowed, or purchased, plumes. And 

 yet, though I may not join in the festivities, I do 

 not feel, as perhaps I should, " like the puddle that 

 was proud of standing alone while the river 

 rushed by." In my present frame of mind the 

 celebration of events or commemorations by 

 means of feasts and balls reminds me of the 

 Saturnalia of ancient days, from which some of 

 them differ only in degree; and as for a funeral, 

 I can call to mind no savage rite among the many 

 I have witnessed more humiliating to our vaunted 

 enlightenment than a burial ordinance of the type 

 I refer to. It seems clear that many of our rites 

 and celebrations differ only in degree from those 

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