“Oh, well, that’s only a form of speech. What will you do for me, Madge, if I’m right?”
“I’ll put you into an allegorical sketch.”
“Good! I always wondered that you didn’t make use of such good material in the artful line!”
The wire dictionary-stand, containing the portly form of Webster Unabridged, was instantly brought up to the light, and 102 there was half a minute’s silence while Ned turned the leaves.
“Score me one!” he shouted, in high glee. “Listen to Webster! ‘Wit. 3. Felicitous association of objects not usually connected, so as to produce a pleasant surprise.’ Quite at your service, my artful relative, whenever you would like a sitting!”
“I protest! You haven’t won!”
“Haven’t won, indeed! I leave it to the gentlemen of the jury. Is not the name of Prize Pig for Miss Eleanor Merritt a ‘felicitous association of objects not usually connected’?”
“No! The association is infelicitous, and consequently it does not produce a ‘pleasant surprise.’”
The family listened with the amused tolerance with which they usually left such discussions to the two chief wranglers.
“I maintain,” insisted Ned, “that the association of objects is felicitous, and must be, because it was instituted by Miss Eleanor Merritt herself. She won the prize, and she said she was a pig.” 103