Chapter 25
Postscript
Postscript. In behalf of the dignity of whaling, I would fain advance naught but substantiated facts. But after embattling his facts, an advocate who should wholly suppress a not unreasonable surmise, which might tell eloquently upon his cause—such an advocate, would he not be blameworthy? It is well known that at the coronation of kings and queens, even modern ones, a certain curious process of seasoning them for their functions is gone through. There is a saltcellar of state, so called, and there may be a castor of state. How they use the salt, precisely—who knows? Certain I am, however,…
Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.
Critical Thinking Exercise
Write Your Postscript Line
Pick a cause or job people underestimate. Write three substantiated facts, then one reasonable surmise labeled as inference, then one closing sentence that names who supplies what the respectable world uses.
Consider:
- •Which fact is hardest to dispute?
- •Where does inference begin?
- •Can a joke make dependence stick without lying?
Journaling Prompt
Write the one-line postscript you would add after defending work that others call disreputable.
Master this chapter. Complete your experience
Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature
Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats
You Might Also Like
Lessons from Moby-Dick
Theme-by-theme analyses that connect this book to modern life skills.
Building Unlikely Alliances
I'll Try a Pagan Friend
Share the Spouter-Inn bed, the Nantucket wheelbarrow, and the coffin that keeps the friend you almost feared.
5 chapters·Explore AnalysisFinding Meaning in Chaos
A Damp November in the Soul
Start with Ishmael's November restlessness, then the try-works, and purpose when the world stays indifferent.
Deep diving the literary elements.
