Of juries

In one of his short stories, Mark Twain recounts how a delirious chap took arsenic, shot himself through the body, cut his throat, and jumped out of a four-storey window and broke his neck. The jury, after due deliberation, brought in a verdict of death "by the visitation of God". And what could the world do without juries? exclaimed the author.

Quite recently a panel was appointed to assign the Literary Prize to one of six competing novels. One of the books had been highly praised by a number of literary buffs, was this year's bestseller and is still selling steadily. The jury decided that not one of the six books had reached the desired level, and the first prize was not awarded. Incidentally, not one of the three judges has written a novel.

It seems human nature is the same, always and everywhere under the sun. Yes, Twain was right on the Mark.