There is a slight touch of satire in his discourse now and then,
and an odd way of answering one that makes it hard to guess how much more
or less he means than he seems to say. But he is honest, and always has
a twinkle in his eye to put you on your guard when he does not mean to be
taken quite literally. I think old Ben Franklin had just that look. I
know his great-grandson (in pace!) had it, and I don't doubt he took it
in the straight line of descent, as he did his grand intellect.
The Member of the Haouse evidently comes from one of the lesser inland
centres of civilization, where the flora is rich in checkerberries and
similar bounties of nature, and the fauna lively with squirrels,
wood-chucks, and the like; where the leading sportsmen snare patridges,
as they are called, and "hunt" foxes with guns; where rabbits are
entrapped in "figgery fours," and trout captured with the unpretentious
earth-worm, instead of the gorgeous fly; where they bet prizes for butter
and cheese, and rag-carpets executed by ladies more than seventy years of
age; where whey wear dress-coats before dinner, and cock their hats on
one side when they feel conspicuous and distinshed; where they say--Sir
to you in their common talk and have other Arcadian and bucolic ways
which are highly unobjectionable, but are not so much admired in cities,
where the people are said to be not half so virtuous.
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