A BAD EXAMPLE, a Short Story by Somerset Maugham

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  • @1stDoNoPharma
    @1stDoNoPharma 4 місяці тому +12

    Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your channel is a great gift. ❤

  • @nityaraman556
    @nityaraman556 7 місяців тому +48

    It’s like unearthing hidden treasures ! What joy listening to these gems 🌹

  • @JavierBonillaC
    @JavierBonillaC 5 місяців тому +9

    Thank you so much for making these videos. I have enjoyed them tremendously.

  • @novascheller5957
    @novascheller5957 7 місяців тому +72

    Such picky listeners! Yes there are a few mispronunciations… I don’t care! I love having this kind of literature available to me via readings. I can go about many things during my day and yet at the same time savour the quality of the language, observations and implications.
    Very much appreciative of this channel and all the great stories you are bringing to us. And I’m not paying for individual content or anything outside the UA-cam commercial free app. It’s money well spent.!!!

    • @wg8859
      @wg8859 5 місяців тому +3

      I so agree.

    • @1stDoNoPharma
      @1stDoNoPharma 4 місяці тому +2

      ❤❤❤

    • @patmae2031
      @patmae2031 2 місяці тому

      Well said! I'm loving this channel!❤

  • @jeanhounsell4199
    @jeanhounsell4199 6 місяців тому +29

    Somerset Maughm never disappoints. How cleverly he makes us laugh at the clergyman whose 'faith is dead without works'. Brilliant.....

  • @irenadziovaliene7082
    @irenadziovaliene7082 7 місяців тому +28

    I listened with pleasure. Thank you ❤

  • @अस्मिरीति
    @अस्मिरीति 5 місяців тому +6

    Thank you for another story that I had not read. Brilliant author who seemed to "know" how men and women think, feel and how they react when circumstances change beyond their comfort zone.
    Mr Clinton was judged a madman because he read the bible and followed the righteous path.

  • @paulalb-n2f
    @paulalb-n2f 6 місяців тому +6

    How 1:56 wonderful, to have him sitting right there, looking at us as he goes on... i so enjoy this other world you've given us.

  • @albie7581
    @albie7581 6 місяців тому +8

    Thanks for posting and reading a great
    Story and a good reading
    Of it.

  • @melindadurchholz3738
    @melindadurchholz3738 6 місяців тому +10

    Very interesting story. It was fascinating to see where his compassion led him. Also, in the 1990s I worked for an elderly British woman. One day she explained that the men long ago used macassar oil for grooming their hair. To protect the furniture, women used antimacassars on their furniture. They were usually placed over the backs of chairs.

  • @Charles-oo8bq
    @Charles-oo8bq 7 місяців тому +19

    Excellent. Love the new voice selection. Danke

    • @curaticac5391
      @curaticac5391 7 місяців тому +4

      Is this synthesized speech??? It would be disappointing. Anyway, if it is, it sounds amazingly natural.

    • @Charles-oo8bq
      @Charles-oo8bq 7 місяців тому

      @curaticac5391 yes,it is.

    • @TiffyVella1
      @TiffyVella1 6 місяців тому +2

      @@curaticac5391 The voice does sound smooth. I thought it was a real narrator until a few slip-ups. It gets confused by dropped haitches!

    • @Give_Peace_a_Chance123
      @Give_Peace_a_Chance123 5 місяців тому +2

      ​@@TiffyVella1 That's the old London, England accent.

    • @TiffyVella1
      @TiffyVella1 5 місяців тому

      @@Give_Peace_a_Chance123 Well, it is based on a generic "old London" accent, but it is definitely AI generated. Every now and again it accentuates the wrong part of a sentence. And it certainly has no idea of "haitches/aitches". It is aiming for what you may call "old London" but glitches.

  • @Michael-bp5im
    @Michael-bp5im 6 місяців тому +7

    I loved this story .. I never read it before.. I thought I read all of Maugham work

    • @mattc825
      @mattc825 6 місяців тому +1

      But alas you had not

  • @justaplainspokengirl
    @justaplainspokengirl 6 місяців тому +14

    A NEW VOICE!! And a GOOD one . TY neuralsurfer for giving me fresh company for dinner tonight

  • @thelmacharles7947
    @thelmacharles7947 5 місяців тому +4

    I have just found these gems on utube.
    I am writing before finishing the story. What strikes me is how the 'poor' suffer throughout time, even to July 2024.

  • @NannyOggins
    @NannyOggins 7 місяців тому +23

    I love the ironic treatment of this story. Very witty indeed.

  • @blueolive76
    @blueolive76 7 місяців тому +3

    Great story, great reading! Thank you!

  • @Juhani139
    @Juhani139 7 місяців тому +24

    I was waiting for the curate to quote:
    "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
    And
    "If a man will not work, he shall not eat"

    • @granthurlburt4062
      @granthurlburt4062 7 місяців тому +1

      Where are these quotes from? Dont you have the slightest idea of what life was like for these people? The relevant quote is from Luke"Sell all thou hadst and distribute it among the poor." (59:00 minutes)

    • @shanecomeback8296
      @shanecomeback8296 6 місяців тому +1

      @@granthurlburt4062 To give ALL away would only create MORE poor destitute people-himself, his wife, his kids. He would not see reason. Even if he gave 75 % away, save some for the family. But no, it was his way or the highway. In his own way, he was selfish-abandoning his family to poverty so he can feel like Lord Bountiful.

    • @laurahale9309
      @laurahale9309 6 місяців тому

      Those are also scriptures​@@granthurlburt4062

    • @amsbestunderstanding1646
      @amsbestunderstanding1646 6 місяців тому +1

      1Timothy 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
      God does call believers to make sacrifices on behalf of others, but He never calls anyone to starve their own young children in order to feed someone else's children. We can share & the Lord will multiply it. Rightly dividing the word of God requires the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
      When Jesus Christ told the rich young man to go & sell all he had & give to the poor, (Mark 10:22) was speaking specifically to the young man who had kept the law of the O.T. since his youth, thinking that was sufficient, Jesus highlighted the one thing the young man loved more than anything including God. Read all the verses before & after. Jesus loved the rich young man, & when questioned about who can be saved then?
      Mark 10:27 clears up the matter.
      27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible..
      Thank you for these short stories which are sometimes just reflections of human nature, struggling to do something right or otherwise, but somehow still out of whack. Without God, we are all out of whack.

  • @princecrocodyle
    @princecrocodyle 6 місяців тому +4

    Sensational many thanks

  • @Edo9River
    @Edo9River 7 місяців тому +24

    I experienced a shocking self reaction. I felt relieved at the author’s decision to end it as he did. I think I was in a better position to view the history of Victorian society because of this story. The marching of the Presbyterian missionaries across the world, the colonization of India, the preservation and expansion of the British morality. True, the cracks were there from the First World War, the ultimate decline despite heart felt sacrifices by the people.Maugham shows alll of this in the story. And we know how to ends beyond that ending.

  • @arthuroldale-ki2ev
    @arthuroldale-ki2ev 6 місяців тому +3

    AHH!!! A proper narrator !

    • @EvangeliseGood
      @EvangeliseGood 4 місяці тому

      Sounds like AI to me, a lot of words used & said strangely. Still lovely to hear the stories though.

  • @granthurlburt4062
    @granthurlburt4062 7 місяців тому +4

    Great story.

  • @brendabiffibaldovino8306
    @brendabiffibaldovino8306 7 місяців тому +5

    Thank you very much for sharing ❤❤❤

  • @glendajones3791
    @glendajones3791 7 місяців тому +13

    This is one of the most revelatory short stories ever written, I believe!! Thanks so much!!

  • @SunnySmile-fr5yg
    @SunnySmile-fr5yg 6 місяців тому +2

    Excellent 👍

  • @suze6of6
    @suze6of6 7 місяців тому +5

    I Love❤️ your stories❤️🌺🇺🇲👍🌹

  • @mattneillninasmom
    @mattneillninasmom 6 місяців тому +8

    If this same scenario was presented today, the outcome would be the same.

  • @emmahardesty4330
    @emmahardesty4330 6 місяців тому +5

    Thank you for another grand story by Maugham. Truly he examines so many human types that we recognize even if we've never known them. I suppose the Far RIght doesn't read Maugham. (Note: Mr Clinton isn't an "elderly" man.)

  • @CasperLCat
    @CasperLCat 7 місяців тому +57

    I love how they assume Clinton is ill, because he’s suddenly talking about loving his neighbor, and actually means it. He DID turn out to be a fanatic, but they all thought so BEFORE he started neglecting his family, etc.

    • @JohnGleeson-cx5lg
      @JohnGleeson-cx5lg 7 місяців тому +13

      You wouldn't love it if you were one of his dependents

    • @NannyOggins
      @NannyOggins 7 місяців тому +17

      Ironically one of the most important Christian tenets is that on marriage you promise to care for one another before any other. That doesn’t just mean romantic love it also means mutual support and care of your future children. Personally I have great respect for the idea of giving ten percent of your savings to others each year, given anonymously!

    • @Brainteaser5639
      @Brainteaser5639 7 місяців тому +1

      ​@NannyOggins I feel this kind of giving is helpful as it may not seek anything back assuming those entrusted with the giving do a thorough job but unfortunately they are the problem so how can the do a good job. Are they really devoted to eliminating poverty for all on earth while they have been involved in the exact thing that causes man to be poor. Let’s start with history and religion. I respect your giving. The ten per cent is the subconscious which produces such a state in man. The things that happen to us as we pursue life and are deposited in the subconscious mind to eat us alive and reduce us the ones we are asked to commit to forever giving 10%. In the meantime any giving to the poor will carry on but will not eliminate it. Have a good look on Leo Tolstoys on this matter.

    • @ritamartin4782
      @ritamartin4782 7 місяців тому

      Those pricks of conscience can be violent!

    • @Juhani139
      @Juhani139 7 місяців тому +1

      He IS ill.
      Scripture also says:
      "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
      He was either ill, a hypocrite or a complete moron. An intelligent person would know the money will run out, then he can't help anyone.

  • @SunnySmile-fr5yg
    @SunnySmile-fr5yg 6 місяців тому +14

    Seriously -- people who complain and criticize don't need to listen. They can read stories to themselves, or establish their own channel.

  • @teresadelacanal1065
    @teresadelacanal1065 7 місяців тому +2

    Magnificent!

  • @Shineon83
    @Shineon83 7 місяців тому +27

    Maugham is such a cat : his disdain for middle class England & its values comes through in every sarcastic sentence….

    • @Give_Peace_a_Chance123
      @Give_Peace_a_Chance123 5 місяців тому +2

      @Shineon83 I'd fully agree with his openion, especially as an Irish person.

  • @rbrtjernigan
    @rbrtjernigan 7 місяців тому +13

    Yes, yes, the bible is good, as long as it serves our purpose.

  • @elaineedwards3189
    @elaineedwards3189 7 місяців тому +2

    Another great one!😂❤

  • @rys2754
    @rys2754 6 місяців тому +4

    House M.D, the "Charity case" episode features a patient with the same lethal generosity problem. They diagnosed it as Plummer's disease and cured by removing a tiny nodule.

  • @amazingandrea9983
    @amazingandrea9983 7 місяців тому +9

    A hint of Dickens' A Christmas Carol...

  • @Grace.allovertheplace
    @Grace.allovertheplace 7 місяців тому +2

    Thank you 🙏

  • @danawinsor1380
    @danawinsor1380 2 місяці тому

    This is wonderful. You can't do better than the stories of Maugham, and this reading of "A Bad Example" was delightful.
    Having said this, I would like to make the following comment: the description of the story isn't quite accurate. I believe the main character is not an elderly, wealthy man, but a respectable middle-class man who earns his living at a respectable job. It is clear from Maugham's description that he is not wealthy nor did he have an "outward appearance of opulence . . . ". Please note: I wouldn't have bothered to leave this comment if this was such a fantastic offering. I look forward to listening to many more!

  • @Tinyflypie
    @Tinyflypie 7 місяців тому +13

    Maughen himself didn't suffer that brand of madness. He was a very wealthy man.

    • @Riklott1111
      @Riklott1111 7 місяців тому +5

      He was born wealthy

    • @Michael-bp5im
      @Michael-bp5im 6 місяців тому +3

      Highest paid writer in the world at his peak

    • @Michael-bp5im
      @Michael-bp5im 6 місяців тому +1

      @@Riklott1111

  • @nanettew4398
    @nanettew4398 7 місяців тому +4

    Wonderfully read, wished it was not done anonymous ….. the story is actually a terrible satire….. I read it long, long ago, but listening to it I only now realised it to the full….thank you for these recordings ❤

    • @MargitSzallosFarkas
      @MargitSzallosFarkas 7 місяців тому +1

      It is done by AI, therefore anonymous. Nevertheless, very well done and thank you for uploading!

    • @nanettew4398
      @nanettew4398 7 місяців тому

      @@MargitSzallosFarkas 💝

    • @barbarabarclay6769
      @barbarabarclay6769 6 місяців тому

      This does not sound like an AI reading to me
      Reading is good.

    • @AriaSuperBass
      @AriaSuperBass 6 місяців тому

      @@barbarabarclay6769 It's a cloned AI voice.

  • @rozalialuks6583
    @rozalialuks6583 6 місяців тому +2

    Not a few times he went to where the Russian Literature is!
    Thank you very very much!

  • @amanda-clairebennett6132
    @amanda-clairebennett6132 7 місяців тому +3

    🙏🙏

  • @buniluvr
    @buniluvr 2 місяці тому

    Well done YOU! Leave it to W. S. Maugham! “That’s the worst of these half educated people - they get some idea in their heads which they don’t understand and, of course, do idiotic things”. Pretty much hit the nail on the head with 2024 election :). Cheers, julie

  • @ginamori4970
    @ginamori4970 5 місяців тому

    This is all too much, but at time's😂 I've been laughing at the point to being on the floor😂❤

  • @susanpetropoulos1039
    @susanpetropoulos1039 6 місяців тому +2

    Antimacassars! A wonderful word from the past. Lovingly made of linen for chair backs.
    And another strange Escher piece of furniture?

  • @rakellcolotta3675
    @rakellcolotta3675 6 місяців тому +1

    Sad story

  • @clarehsueh7683
    @clarehsueh7683 7 місяців тому +9

    The man in the picture looks too impeccably well-groomed to be Mr.James Clinton.

    • @VickersDoorter
      @VickersDoorter 7 місяців тому +5

      It’s a Disneyfied American AI generate image.

  • @Angela-cc1hd
    @Angela-cc1hd 7 місяців тому +14

    A poignant story, very good, its always about money in the end. Although, l have to say, anything that becomes extreme one way or another is not good either and giving to charities never ends poverty because most of the money never gets to those who really need it🤔 So it goes on😮

    • @shirleenperkins7455
      @shirleenperkins7455 7 місяців тому +6

      I agree to some extent but I don't think it's entirely accurate to say that money given to charities *never* reaches the recipient. Many charities do excellent work that individuals can't, such as Greenpeace.

    • @sandraeastern9720
      @sandraeastern9720 6 місяців тому +5

      Most charities are established with noble intentions but in many cases, much of the money collected is spent on administration, marketing and staff costs.
      I have learned to look for, and examine, the financial statements of charities which I consider supporting.

    • @doriellesoler7502
      @doriellesoler7502 6 місяців тому +3

      Well that's a comfortable way of looking at things, not giving to charity because it might not reach the intended beneficiaries! Just be careful which charities to support but I do feel an obligation to help as far as i can.

    • @Angela-cc1hd
      @Angela-cc1hd 6 місяців тому

      @@doriellesoler7502 l have helped by volunteering on many occasions, time given also helps🙂

  • @martaz.9179
    @martaz.9179 7 місяців тому +4

    He lost his mind over horrific truth that unexpectedly came to his face. So sad. Probably the same would happen to great majority of us if not defensive schemas.

  • @ranjanivaradpande381
    @ranjanivaradpande381 3 місяці тому

    Thanks I have not read this story ,but may be this is not a SHORT STORY ?as the time shown is 1:11:43?!

  • @jeremypearson6852
    @jeremypearson6852 7 місяців тому +6

    How sad that the wife was more troubled by her husband’s spiritual awakening than anything else. She may have attended church on Sunday, but Christianity was the furthest thing from her mind. This has shades of a Christmas Carol all over it.

    • @doriellesoler7502
      @doriellesoler7502 6 місяців тому +4

      I'm all for practising charity but this was not spiritual awakening but madness

  • @ellenrichardson7819
    @ellenrichardson7819 7 місяців тому +7

    Disagree! I find the reader very good. The essence of the story well communicated.

  • @brenodiasmagalhaes9691
    @brenodiasmagalhaes9691 7 місяців тому +2

    25:00

  • @nickstone3113
    @nickstone3113 6 місяців тому +2

    Quite a profound story

  • @jasonhenn7345
    @jasonhenn7345 18 днів тому

    Works done to gain Salvation profit one nothing, but done in appreciation of that fee gift, once gained, is as fine as refinded gold: the former being religion, the latter being relationship with God, by grace

  • @jeanreed1975
    @jeanreed1975 7 місяців тому +1

    A little awkwardly enacted at times. Is the speaker an actor or is it electronically generated?

  • @judymoraign7078
    @judymoraign7078 7 місяців тому +5

    What a terrible end to that story

  • @VickersDoorter
    @VickersDoorter 7 місяців тому +18

    This AI reader is painful! No gaps between sentences or paragraphs, nor natural pauses for breath or effect.

    • @KateMelia-uv4jx
      @KateMelia-uv4jx 7 місяців тому +7

      And very strange pronounciation! Should just be called A. Forget about the intelligence bit.

    • @ellenrichardson7819
      @ellenrichardson7819 7 місяців тому +4

      Disagree 😐

    • @shondra4663
      @shondra4663 7 місяців тому +5

      I like the reading voice

    • @anaderol5408
      @anaderol5408 7 місяців тому +3

      Agree - the cadence, when present, was more often than not incorrect. Of course if the individual programming the AI has a limited understanding of the requirements of a reading/narrating voice then it’s hardly surprising.

    • @DJKSB58
      @DJKSB58 7 місяців тому +2

      Common wheel for Commonwealth!
      Plus emphasis on the wrong syllable

  • @robertleelucas
    @robertleelucas 6 місяців тому +2

    Good story. Doesn't sound like Maugham to me though. Not in any of my collections.

  • @lorrainegladdish1519
    @lorrainegladdish1519 7 місяців тому +3

    If you re not from the north of england you won't get the dialect!

    • @rosiemayrod
      @rosiemayrod 7 місяців тому +1

      I'm from the Caribbean I understand very well

    • @AriaSuperBass
      @AriaSuperBass 6 місяців тому +1

      Hi @lorrainegladdish1519
      Just interested in what you hear/see that makes you believe that? I didn't find anything that indicated the characters are speaking a northern English dialect.

  • @ritamartin4782
    @ritamartin4782 7 місяців тому +8

    In conclusion, British elites should never serve on jury duty! Ha!

    • @mattneillninasmom
      @mattneillninasmom 6 місяців тому +4

      He was not one of the elite, he was a mere clerk.

    • @valeriemacphail9180
      @valeriemacphail9180 6 місяців тому +1

      Far from "elite"! But the AI reader can't quite substitute a human voice ....yet!

  • @DJKSB58
    @DJKSB58 7 місяців тому +3

    The Common wheel ?
    Commonwealth

    • @gailgottlieb7424
      @gailgottlieb7424 6 місяців тому +4

      Not “common wheel” 😂😂. It’s “commonweal,” meaning the good of the community.

  • @jonathannettleton8399
    @jonathannettleton8399 7 місяців тому +1

    Ludgatter Hill

  • @paperback10
    @paperback10 7 місяців тому +11

    More weird AI mispronounced words. Shame.

  • @desleykakoulidisgallaway3382
    @desleykakoulidisgallaway3382 6 місяців тому

    I found it depressing-

  •  6 місяців тому

    Well his name wasn't Bill😂😂

  • @anotherblonde
    @anotherblonde 7 місяців тому +1

    Proverbs 21:9 lol

  • @infojo101
    @infojo101 6 місяців тому

    Bot reading is ridiculous. I’m out.

  • @taniavorster6503
    @taniavorster6503 7 місяців тому

    kak storie

  • @blueolive76
    @blueolive76 7 місяців тому +8

    Great story, great reading! Thank you!