As it was, one
more illusion vanished.
In order to regain my spirits, I shook hands with the handsome giant in
brass buttons; and speaking of giants leads me to the subject of all
_lusus naturae_, particularly the Circassian young lady, the dwarf, the
living skeleton, the Albinos, and What-is-it. I have dropped more than
one tear at the fate of these unfortunate beings; for what is more
horribly solitary than to live in a strange crowd, with
"No one to love,
None to caress?"
Noah was human. When he retired to the ark, he selected two of a kind
from all the animal kingdom for the sake of sociability as well as for
more practical purposes. Showmen should be equally considerate. To think
of those Albino sisters with never an Albino beau, of the Circassian
beauty with never a Circassian sweetheart, of the living skeleton with
never another skeleton in his closet (how he can look so good-natured
would be most mysterious, were not his digestion pronounced perfect), to
think of the wretched What-is-it with never a Mrs. What-is-it, produces
unspeakable anguish. May they meet their affinities in another and a
more sympathetic world, where monstrosities are impossible for the
reason that we leave our bones on earth.
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