Just read the post Barry D and would have guessed it was from "Letters From the Earth" (which it wasn't). Twain--for those who have read beyond his 'children's books'--was quite scathing in his indictment of puffed up social mores and most forms of government. Thanks for posting it. (Don't mean to sound pedantic there.) Lord but that man could turn a phrase to cut to the stomach of a situation.