{"product_id":"2940013682405","title":"The Saving Clause","description":"I guess I don't hold with missionaries. I've been in most corners of this\u003cbr\u003eglobe, and I reckon that the harm they do easily outweighs the good.\u003cbr\u003eStands to reason, don't it, that we can't all have the same religion,\u003cbr\u003esame as we can't all have the same shaped nose? So what in thunder is the\u003cbr\u003egood of trying to put my nose on to your face, where it won't fit? And it\u003cbr\u003esort of riles me to see these good earnest people labouring and sweating\u003cbr\u003eto do to others what they would only describe as damned impertinence if\u003cbr\u003ethose others tried to do it to them. Yet, as I see it, there's no reason\u003cbr\u003ewhy the others shouldn't. 'Tisn't as if any particular bunch had a\u003cbr\u003ecomplete corner in truth, is it?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut there are exceptions, same as to most things. And for the past twenty\u003cbr\u003eyears whenever I've said I don't hold with missionaries, I've always\u003cbr\u003eadded a saving clause in my mind. Care to hear what that saving clause\u003cbr\u003eis? Right: mine's the same as before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was just after the Boer War that it happened. I'd come home: got a job\u003cbr\u003eof sorts in London. Thought a few years of the quiet life would do me\u003cbr\u003egood, and an old uncle of mine wangled me into the office of a pal of\u003cbr\u003ehis. Funny old thing my boss was, with a stomach like a balloon. And I\u003cbr\u003egive you my word that he was the last man in London whom you'd have\u003cbr\u003eexpected to meet at the Empire on a Saturday night. It was sheer bad\u003cbr\u003eluck, though I don't suppose I could have stood that job, anyway, for\u003cbr\u003elong.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI'd met a pal there, you see, and I suppose we'd started to hit it a bit.\u003cbr\u003eAnyway a darned great chucker-out came and intimated that he thought the\u003cbr\u003emoment had come when we'd better sample the cool night air of Leicester\u003cbr\u003eSquare.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWell, I don't say I was right: strictly speaking, I suppose I should have\u003cbr\u003eaccepted his remark in the spirit in which it was intended. But the fact\u003cbr\u003eremains that I didn't like his face or his frock coat--and we had words.\u003cbr\u003eAnd finally the chucker-out sampled the cool night air--not me. The only\u003cbr\u003etrouble was that just as he went down the stairs, my boss was coming up\u003cbr\u003ewith wife and family complete. And that chucker-out was a big man: I\u003cbr\u003eguess it was rather like being bit by a steam roller. Anyway the whole\u003cbr\u003eblessed family turned head over heels, and landed on the pavement\u003cbr\u003esimultaneously with the chucker-out on top.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAgain strictly speaking, I suppose I should have gone and picked them up\u003cbr\u003ewith suitable words of regret. But I just couldn't do it: I was laughing\u003cbr\u003etoo much. In fact I didn't stop laughing till I began to run--the police\u003cbr\u003ewere heaving in sight. Still you boys know what the Empire was like in\u003cbr\u003ethose days: so I'll pass on to Monday morning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot that there's much to say about Monday morning, except that it dosed\u003cbr\u003emy connection with the firm. The old man had a black eye where the\u003cbr\u003echucker-out had trodden on his face, and the hell of a liver. And he\u003cbr\u003eutterly failed to see the humorous side of the episode. As far as I could\u003cbr\u003emake out his wife had smashed her false teeth in the melee, and was as\u003cbr\u003ewild as a civet cat; and only the fact that his own firm would be\u003cbr\u003einvolved had prevented him giving my name to the police. My own private\u003cbr\u003eopinion was that it wasn't so much the firm he was worrying about as\u003cbr\u003ehimself. Still, that's neither here nor there: all that matters is that\u003cbr\u003emy job in London terminated that morning.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068913107184,"sku":"2940013682405","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013682405_p0.jpg?v=1763584300","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013682405","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}