Essay · 1918
The Saving Grace
by H. L. Mencken · from Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918)
Read The Saving Grace in full, as it appeared in Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918). H. L. Mencken’s recurring targets included organized religion, fundamentalism, American democracy.
Let us not burn the universities—yet. After all, the damage they do might be worse.... Suppose Oxford had snared and disemboweled Shakespeare! Suppose Harvard had set its stamp upon Mark Twain!
From Damn! A Book of Calumny (1918). Public-domain text, sourced from Project Gutenberg.