(3238)
See [Mutation].
TIME ENOUGH
Joaquin Miller, “The Poet of the Sierras,” recently visited a friend in Boston whose literary taste runs largely to Emerson, Browning and Maeterlinck. This friend, says Lippincott’s Magazine, found the venerable poet in the library one afternoon deeply absorbed in a book.
“What are you reading?” asked the Bostonian.
“A novel by Bret Harte,” replied the poet.
The Hubbite sniffed. “I can not see,” said he, “how an immortal being can waste his time with such stuff.”
“Are you quite sure,” asked Miller, “that I am an immortal being?”
“Why, of course you are,” was the unwary reply.
“In that case,” responded the Californian grimly, “I don’t see why I should be so very economical of my time.”