Note 34 — Chapter X

Since the above was written, I have cut from a newspaper the following astounding paragraph:—"A story is told of a large cave just discovered near St. Josephs, Mo., in which was a human skeleton, thirty-eight feet six inches long, with a head six feet in circumference. Where is Barnum?" I suspect, however, that even Barnum would fancy this story is a little "too good to be true." The mendacious Falstaff regretted that "the world was given to lying," and yet his mythical one hour's conflict (by Shrewsbury clock) with the valiant Hotspur, was a rational hoax in comparison to the above.