) 
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& jtflessage to tf)e Clunker! 
ORGANIZATIONS OFTEN HINDER THE DEVELOP¬ 
MENT OF THE GREATEST DISCOVERIES 
INTRODUCTION. 
“There was a man, once upon a day, who lived in East 
Aurora, and kept a store. He sold everything from cough 
syrup to blue ribbon; and some of the things he sold on time 
to philosophers who sat on nail kegs every evening, and settled 
the coal strike. 
“And in due course of time the store-keeper compromised 
with his creditors, at twenty-nine cents on the dollar. 
“Some say the man went busted a-purpose to quit business 
and get out of East Aurora. And he himself generally allowed 
the opinion to gain ground in later years that he had planned 
his life, from start to finish, thus proving the supremacy of the 
will. 
“Yet others there be, and men of worth and social standing 
in the village—known for miles up the creek as persons of prob¬ 
ity—who claim that it was too much confidence in the Genus 
Smart-Setter, and trotting horses at the County Fairs, that made 
it possible for our friend to avail himself of the Bankruptcy 
Act. Still others, too inert to follow the winding ways of a 
strange career and give reasons, dispose of the matter by saying, 
‘Providence V —rolling their eyes upward, then walking out, 
leaving the wordy contestants humiliated and undone. 
“It will be seen that I am interested in this chapter of An¬ 
cient History,—and in truth I myself occasionally ornament the 
nail kegs. I claim that it was neither Providence nor astute 
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