Why is it we always wear the shaped coats that everybody else does?
Somebody must have astonished the world by setting the fashion in the first instance.
There is a touch of envy in Ebenezer, I'm afraid; but the kindest way of accounting for his annoying ways is to believe he is not clever.

No more he is.

If he were, he would at least see how ridiculous he sometimes makes himself.

The original boys, on the other hand, _are_ clever, and they are quick in their ideas, which Ebenezer is not.

The great thing in originality is to have your idea out before any one else.
As long as it's in your head and no one knows of it, you are no better off than the unoriginal many; but give your idea a shape and a name, and you are one of the original few.