I’m reading the Scarlett Letter with Alice right now, and it’s taken a good long time to even get around to mentioning Hester Pryne. But as I read the lengthy descriptions of non-essential personnel at\’c3\’82\’c2\~ Custom House (port tax office) and the dulling effect of government employment on the author, this sentence caught my eye:\par
It was not merely during the three hours and a half which Uncle Sam claimed as his share of my daily life, that this wretched numbness held possession of me. (p 24, Dover Thrift Edition)
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Three and a half hours?!!! In\’c3\’82\’c2\~a work day? I guess government employment’s always been cushy, huh? 
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