broke in, he being fond of an argument, and
having a pretty gift in that regard, as all acknowledged. Rising in his
place and leaning his knuckles upon the table and looking about him with
easy dignity, after the manner of such as be orators, he began, smooth
and persuasive:

"I will differ with you there, gossip, and will undertake to show
the company"--here he looked around upon us and nodded his head in a
confident way--"that there is a grain of sense in what the child has
said; for look you, it is of a certainty most true and demonstrable that
it is a man's head that is master and supreme ruler over his whole body.
Is that granted? Will any deny it?" He glanced around again; everybody
indicated assent. "Very well, then; that being the case, no part of
the body is responsible for the result when it carries out an order
delivered to it by the head; ergo, the head is alone responsible for
crimes done by a man's hands or feet or stomach--do you get the idea? am
I right thus far?" Everybody said yes, and said it with enthusiasm, and
some said, one to another, that the maire was in great form to-night and
at his very best--which pleased the maire exceedingly and made his eyes
sparkle with pleasure, for he overheard these things; so he went on in
the same fertile and brilliant way. "Now, then, we will consider what
the term responsibility means, and how it affects the case in point.
Responsibility makes a man responsible for only those things for which
he is properly responsible"--and he waved his spoon around in a
wide sweep to indicate the comprehensive nature of that class of
responsibilities which render people responsible, and several exclaimed,
admiringly, "He is right!--he has put that whole tangled thing into a
nutshell--it is wonderful!" After a little pause to give the interest
opportunity to gather and grow, he went on: "Very good. Let us suppose
the case of a pair of tongs that falls upon a man's foot, causing a
cruel hurt. Will you claim that the tongs are punishable for that? The
question is answered; I see by your faces that you would call such a
claim absurd. Now, why is it absurd? It is absurd because, there being
no reasoning faculty--that is to say, no faculty of personal command--in
a pair of tongs, personal responsibility for the acts of the tongs is
wholly absent from the tongs; and, therefore, responsibility being
absent, punishment cannot ensue. Am I right?" A hearty burst of applause
was his answer