tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12880671.post8918686136555303776..comments2024-03-19T09:12:47.863-06:00Comments on Michael Shay's <em>Hummingbirdminds</em>: First Ladies lend muscle to arts supportMichael Shayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08622613457420118934noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12880671.post-45977573863962772382009-08-02T12:02:36.428-06:002009-08-02T12:02:36.428-06:00ART, n. This word has no definition. Its origin is...<b>ART, n.</b> This word has no definition. Its origin is related as follows by <br />the ingenious Father Gassalasca Jape, S.J.<br /><br /><i>One day a wag -- what would the wretch be at? --<br />Shifted a letter of the cipher RAT,<br />And said it was a god's name! Straight arose<br />Fantastic priests and postulants (with shows,<br />And mysteries, and mummeries, and hymns,<br />And disputations dire that lamed their limbs)<br />To serve his temple and maintain the fires,<br />Expound the law, manipulate the wires.<br />Amazed, the populace that rites attend,<br />Believe whate'er they cannot comprehend,<br />And, inly edified to learn that two<br />Half-hairs joined so and so (as Art can do)<br />Have sweeter values and a grace more fit<br />Than Nature's hairs that never have been split,<br />Bring cates and wines for sacrificial feasts,<br />And sell their garments to support the priests.</i><br /><br /><b>ARTLESSNESS, n.</b> A certain engaging quality to which women attain by<br />long study and severe practice upon the admiring male, who is pleased<br />to fancy it resembles the candid simplicity of his young.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil%27s_Dictionary" rel="nofollow">- Ambrose Bierce, <i>The Devil's Dictionary</i></a>FTLhttp://freetalklive.comnoreply@blogger.com