Random Shots Author:Charles Heber Clark General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1879 Original Publisher: J. M. Stoddart Subjects: American wit and humor Fiction / General Fiction / Classics Fiction / Literary Fiction / Short Stories Humor / General Humor / Form / Essays Literary Criticism / American / General Literary Criticism / Euro... more »pean / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: ' HERE the Professor came from originally, or how he even obtained the title of " Professor," nobody knew. He appeared suddenly in the village one day, and renting a small shop, he hung out a sign bearing the inscription, " Professor S. Quackenboss, Phrenologist and Indian Herb Doctor," and sat down to wait for business that never came. A week or two after his arrival, he determined to give a free lecture upon phrenology, for the purpose of introducing himself to the people of the community. Herented a hall, and obtained quite a large audience. When the hour for beginning the lecture arrived, the Professo' advanced and explained the science, and then invited persons in the audience to come forward and permit him to examine their skulls, and tell what were their characteristics. Several men offered themselves for this ordeal, and the Professor contrived to come so near to the truth in describing them, that he more than once excited a good deal of applause. Finally, old Mr. Duncan stepped up for examination. He is an absent-minded man, and he wears a wig. While dressing himself before coming to the lecture, he had placed his wig on the bureau and accidentally tossed his spectacle case into it. When he put the wig on it was just like him not to notice the case, and so, when he mounted the platform, he had a ...« less