War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy

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On the first day of my summer vacation, I went to the store to get a job.

[archenemy]

And instead, you got a pagetop

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so I hung out in front of the store all day.

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On the second day of my summer vacation

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I went to the store to get a job.

[Squid]

"He could not do that. The people only gave him power that he

might rid them of the Bourbons and because they saw that he was a

great man. The Revolution was a grand thing!" continued Monsieur

Pierre, betraying by this desperate and provocative proposition his

extreme youth and his wish to express all that was in his mind.

 

"What? Revolution and regicide a grand thing?... Well, after that...

But won't you come to this other table?" repeated Anna Pavlovna.

 

"Rousseau's Contrat social," said the vicomte with a tolerant smile.

 

"I am not speaking of regicide, I am speaking about ideas."

 

"Yes: ideas of robbery, murder, and regicide," again interjected

an ironical voice.

 

"Those were extremes, no doubt, but they are not what is most

important. What is important are the rights of man, emancipation

from prejudices, and equality of citizenship, and all these ideas

Napoleon has retained in full force."

 

"Liberty and equality," said the vicomte contemptuously, as if at

last deciding seriously to prove to this youth how foolish his words

were, "high-sounding words which have long been discredited. Who

does not love liberty and equality? Even our Saviour preached

liberty and equality. Have people since the Revolution become happier?

On the contrary. We wanted liberty, but Buonaparte has destroyed it."

 

Prince Andrew kept looking with an amused smile from Pierre to the

vicomte and from the vicomte to their hostess. In the first moment

of Pierre's outburst Anna Pavlovna, despite her social experience, was

horror-struck. But when she saw that Pierre's sacrilegious words had

not exasperated the vicomte, and had convinced herself that it was

impossible to stop him, she rallied her forces and joined the

vicomte in a vigorous attack on the orator.

 

"But, my dear Monsieur Pierre," said she, "how do you explain the

fact of a great man executing a duc--or even an ordinary man who--is

innocent and untried?"

 

"I should like," said the vicomte, "to ask how monsieur explains the

18th Brumaire; was not that an imposture? It was a swindle, and not at

all like the conduct of a great man!"

 

"And the prisoners he killed in Africa? That was horrible!" said the

little princess, shrugging her shoulders.

 

"He's a low fellow, say what you will," remarked Prince Hippolyte.

 

Pierre, not knowing whom to answer, looked at them all and smiled.

His smile was unlike the half-smile of other people. When he smiled,

his grave, even rather gloomy, look was instantaneously replaced by

another--a childlike, kindly, even rather silly look, which seemed

to ask forgiveness.

 

The vicomte who was meeting him for the first time saw clearly

that this young Jacobin was not so terrible as his words suggested.

All were silent.

 

"How do you expect him to answer you all at once?" said Prince

Andrew. "Besides, in the actions of a statesman one has to distinguish

between his acts as a private person, as a general, and as an emperor.

So it seems to me."

 

"Yes, yes, of course!" Pierre chimed in, pleased at the arrival of

this reinforcement.

 

"One must admit," continued Prince Andrew, "that Napoleon as a man

was great on the bridge of Arcola, and in the hospital at Jaffa

where he gave his hand to the plague-stricken; but... but there are

other acts which it is difficult to justify."

 

Prince Andrew, who had evidently wished to tone down the awkwardness

of Pierre's remarks, rose and made a sign to his wife that it was time

to go.

 

 

Suddenly Prince Hippolyte started up making signs to everyone to

attend, and asking them all to be seated began:

 

"I was told a charming Moscow story today and must treat you to

it. Excuse me, Vicomte--I must tell it in Russian or the point will be

lost...." And Prince Hippolyte began to tell his story in such Russian

as a Frenchman would speak after spending about a year in Russia.

Everyone waited, so emphatically and eagerly did he demand their

attention to his story.

 

"There is in Moscow a lady, une dame, and she is very stingy. She

must have two footmen behind her carriage, and very big ones. That was

her taste. And she had a lady's maid, also big. She said..."

 

Here Prince Hippolyte paused, evidently collecting his ideas with

difficulty.

 

"She said... Oh yes! She said, 'Girl,' to the maid, 'put on a

livery, get up behind the carriage, and come with me while I make some

calls.'"

 

Here Prince Hippolyte spluttered and burst out laughing long

before his audience, which produced an effect unfavorable to the

narrator. Several persons, among them the elderly lady and Anna

Pavlovna, did however smile.

 

"She went. Suddenly there was a great wind. The girl lost her hat

and her long hair came down...." Here he could contain himself no

longer and went on, between gasps of laughter: "And the whole world

knew...."

 

And so the anecdote ended. Though it was unintelligible why he had

told it, or why it had to be told in Russian, still Anna Pavlovna

and the others appreciated Prince Hippolyte's social tact in so

agreeably ending Pierre's unpleasant and unamiable outburst. After the

anecdote the conversation broke up into insignificant small talk about

the last and next balls, about theatricals, and who would meet whom,

and when and where.

[olyclimber]

but I could not find a job.

[archenemy]

banned

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so I hung out in front of the store all day...

[sobo]

Cla-asss... cla-asss... CLA-ASSSS! SHADDAAAPPPP!

 

thenk qu.

 

Sister Mary Elephant

[Chaps]

In all things unholy and wrong, WTF IS THIS THREAD ABOUT????!!!!