Hadleyburg village woke up world-celebrated—astonished—happy—vain.  Vain beyond imagination.  Its nineteen principal citizens and their wives went about shaking hands with each other, and beaming, and smiling, and congratulating, and saying this thing adds a new word to the dictionary—Hadleyburg, synonym for incorruptible—destined to live in dictionaries for ever!  And the minor and unimportant citizens and their wives went around acting in much the same way ….

By the end of a week things had quieted down again; the wild intoxication of pride and joy had sobered to a soft, sweet, silent delight—a sort of deep, nameless, unutterable content.  All faces bore a look of peaceful, holy happiness.

Then a change came.  It was a gradual change; so gradual that its beginnings were hardly noticed; maybe were not noticed at all, except by Jack Halliday, who always noticed everything; and always made fun of it, too, no matter what it was.  He began to throw out chaffing remarks about people not looking quite so happy as they did a day or two ago; and next he claimed that the new aspect was deepening to positive sadness; next, that it was taking on a sick look; and finally he said that everybody was become so moody, thoughtful, and absent-minded that he could rob the meanest man in town of a cent out of the bottom of his breeches pocket and not disturb his reverie.

From “The Man that Corrupted Haleyburg” by Mark Twain

This is a gorgeous piece of writing by Mark Twain, who displays great insight into human weaknesses.  You could dance or sing at the rhythm of these sentences: “By the end of a week things had quieted down again; the wild intoxication of pride and joy had sobered to a soft, sweet, silent delight—a sort of deep, nameless, unutterable content.” And at the end of these paragraphs, as if it were part of a tango, Mark Twain embraces the reader and glides through the dance floor to a smooth end: “and finally he said that everybody was become so moody, thoughtful, and absent-minded that he could rob the meanest man in town of a cent out of the bottom of his breeches pocket and not disturb his reverie.”

Corruption abounds in our society.  It is part of human nature.  Are we all corruptible?  The answer is yes, and it works for all of us.  People use it in their dealing with others every day such as to get something from their children or their spouses or obtain a favor from someone.  But they must never exceed the limit: whatever they do or get should not harm anyone. There is also a moral to this story: “Tell me what you brag about and I tell you what you lack.”