A MEDIAEVAL ROMANCE. 1 79 



The remainder of this thrilling and eventful story will not be found in this or 

 any other publication, either now or at any future time. 



The truth is, I have got my hero (or heroine) into such a particularly close place 

 that I do not see how I am ever going to get him (or her) out of it again, and 

 therefore I will wash my hands of the whole business, and leave that person to get 

 out the best way that offers — or else stay there. I thought it was going to be easy 

 enough to straighten out that little difficulty, but it looks different now. 



PETITION CONCERNING COPYRIGHT. 



TO THE HONORABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS 

 ASSEMBLED : 



Whereas, The Constitution guarantees equal rights to all, backed by the Declara- 

 tion of Independence ; and 



Whereas, Under our laws, the right of property in real estate is perpetual ; and 



Whereas, Under our laws, the right of property in the literary result of a citizen's 

 intellectual labor is restricted to forty-two years ; and 



Whereas, Forty-two years seems an exceedingly just and righteous term, and a 

 sufficiently long one for the retention of property: 



Therefore, Your petitioner, having the good of his country solely at heart, humbly 



prays that " equal rights " and fair and equal treatment may be meted out to all 



citizens, by the restriction of rights in all property, real estate included, to the 



beneficent term of forty-two years. Then shall all men bless your honorable body 



and be happy. And for this will your petitioner ever pray. 



Mark Twain. 



a paragraph not added to the petition. 

 The charming absurdity of restricting property-rights in books to forty-two years 

 Sticks prominently out in the fact that hardly any man's books ever live forty-two 

 years, or even the half of it ; and so, for the sake of getting a shabby advantage of 

 the heirs of about one Scott or Burns or Milton in a hundred years, the law makers 

 of the "Great " Republic are content to leave that poor little pilfering edict upon 

 the statute books. It is like an emperor lying in wait to rob a phenix's nest, and 

 waiting the necessary century to get the chance. 



