We begin this week where we left off last week.  Harry’s big heart (Ira.21.17).  It’s the size of an elephant (Ned.29.22).  His followers think it is phony, but . . .

The ICR is careful to confine its reference of Ned.29 to verses 3-9, which describe the huge heart and the followers' impression of it.  The followers are chastised for this, and we can only suppose there has been some garbling of the rationale for this dissatisfaction on Harry’s part by Ned which the ICR is attempting to remedy.

And what are we to make of the rest of the readings this week?

T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is cited very specifically, directing us to focus on the first three verses (Psom.23.1-3).  Reading past the Psomethings version to the original, the eye is forced to confront the phrase, "Like a patient etherized upon a table."  It is certainly a troubling image, and the ICR reinforces our unease with a reference from 'etherized' to Hamlet’s own thoughts of death (Psom.4.10), which then terminates at Mall.6.24, "Because hallucinations are safer than memories."

Wil.66 speaks specifically – in a vague sort of way – of what is being spread throughout the city.  Everyone washes their hands.  Everyone loves Harry.  Everyone gets the hang of the Way of Harry.  Everyone.

Other readings feature Ben Franklin – played by Orson Welles (Yks.73.2 to Dav.42.7) – including his invention of electricity (Yks.73.2-6) and his university (Vin.47.3).  My favorite phrase is the, "Children of Ben Franklin," which just rings in your ears and begs for further discussion.  Are these really Ben’s kids?  Did something go horribly wrong between Ben’s day and Harry’s?  Is the image of Ben Franklin evocative of earlier ideals smashed down and broken, like the image of William Penn last week?  Or, are these really Ben’s kids?

If you’ve read Franklin’s autobiography, you know this guy was a bit loose in all kinds of waysl.  Unafraid to rewrite any orthodoxy.  In truth, it must take exactly that kind of guy to cast aside a 6,000 year old form of government in favor of some idea that seems reasonable.  And maybe after two hundred years, that defiance manifests itself in the form of the Children of Ben Franklin.

Of course, it is also possible that children can dishonor and shame their parents.  It would depend upon who was telling the story.  So it is with these children.

Vin.47.3 connects to Ned.30.1-2, but it is difficult not to read the entire chapter of Ned.30.  I mention this circumstance only because it serves as a good example of how careful one must be in interpreting the words of Harry.  In Ned.30 we are given a very good look at the misinterpretations that can occur when you hear only what you want to hear – as the cantankerous follower discovers.

Now we get back to the "greatest heart they had ever seen" (Ned.29.22) , which was just like Harry’s (Ira.21.17).  All of which tells us one thing about Harry and another about his followers.  That's what the reading in Main.25 is about.  Like the Mainliners, the Children of Ben Franklin are at the top of the heap.  They’ve learned the lesson of Ned.29, to say what people want to hear, paying no attention to the context in which they might be perceived to be wise (Ned.29.20).  But is Harry’s heart breaking? It would seem so.

So there.