Amnesty, n. The State's magnanimity to those offenders whom it would
be too expensive to punish.

Who is that, father?

                     A mendicant, child,
Haggard, morose, and unaffable--wild!
See how he glares through the bars of his cell!
With Citizen Mendicant all is not well.

Why did they put him there, father?

                                    Because
Obeying his belly he struck at the laws.

His belly?

           Oh, well, he was starving, my boy--
A state in doubtless there's little of joy.
No bite had he eaten for days, and his cry
Was "Bread!" ever "Bread!"

                           What's the matter with pie?

With little to wear, he had nothing to sell;
To beg was unlawful--improper as well.

Why didn't he work?

                    He would even have done that,
But men said: "Get out!" and the State remarked: "Scat!"
I mention these incidents merely to show
That the vengeance he took was uncommonly low.
Revenge, at the best, is the act of a Siou.
But for trifles--

                  Pray what did bad Mendicant do?

Stole two loaves of bread to replenish his lack
And tuck out the belly that clung to his back.

Is that _all_, father dear?

                            There is little to tell:
They sent him to jail, and they'll send him to--well
The company's better than here we can boast,
And there's--

              Bread for the needy, dear father?

                                                Um--toast.

						Atka Mip.

(As reproduced by Ambrose Bierce)

Belladonna, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly
poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two
tongues.

Magnet, n. Something acted upon by magnetism.
Magnetism, n. Something acting upon a magnet.
   The two definitions immediately foregoing are condensed from the
works of one thousand eminent scientists, who have illuminated the
subject with a great white light, to the inexpressible advancement of
human knowledge.

Me, pro. The objectionable case of I. The personal pronoun in English
has three cases, the dominative, the objectionable, and the
oppressive. Each is all three.

Yankee, n. In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our
Union, a New Englander. In the Southern States the word is unknown.
(See Damyank.)
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