The McWilliamses and The Burglar Alarm

Mark Twain humorously and satirically narrates the story of Mr. McWilliams, whose wife insisted on installing a burglar alarm in their house to ensure safety from burglars. A man came and installed the alarm on the first floor, promising protection. However, one night, Mr. McWilliams encountered a burglar calmly smoking a pipe while leaving with a basket of tinware, leaving him greatly confused as to why the burglar alarm didn’t go off. Determined to fix the issue, he spent another three hundred dollars to install the alarm on the second storey, but this too failed to stop burglars from entering the house. Why did the burglar alarm repeatedly fail? What made Mr. McWilliams declare that he would never spend another cent on burglar alarms? Was the alarm system truly helpful, or did it turn out to be a costly disaster for the family? Read this entertaining and thought-provoking story to find out.