Charles Shortridge once to St. Peter came.
“Down!” cried the saint with his face aflame;
“ ’Tis writ that every hardy liar
Shall dwell forever and ever in fire!”
“That’s what I said the night that I died,”
The sinner, turning away, replied.
“What! you said that?” cried the saint—“what! what!
You said ’twas so writ? Then, faith, ’tis not !
I’m a devil at quoting, but I begin
To fail in my memory. Pray walk in.”
Public-domain source text
Accepted
by Ambrose Bierce
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