FIRST THE BLADE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
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THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
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FIRST THE BLADE
A COMEDY OF GROWTH
BY
CLEMENCE DANE
Author of “Regiment of Women”
First the blade, then the ear, after that
the full corn in the ear.
St. Mark 4.28
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1918
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1918
By CLEMENCE DANE
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Set up and electrotyped. Published, March, 1918
Each man to himself and each woman to herself, is the word of the past and present, and the true word of immortality;
No one can acquire for another—not one,
Not one can grow for another—not one.
The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him,
The teaching is to the teacher, and comes back most to him,
The love is to the lover, and comes back most to him,
The gift is to the giver, and comes back most to him—it cannot fail,
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And no man understands any greatness or goodness but his own, or the indication of his own.
Walt Whitman.
FIRST THE BLADE
FIRST THE BLADE
CHAPTER I
‘Once upon a time’—and we pull in our deep chairs, youquietly, I with a quick impatient jerk that scrabbles up thehearth-rug and worries your tidy s
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