Secondly—Promptness in improving the proper moment in which to whoop.
Thirdly—Ready and correct decision in the matter of which side to whoop on.
Fourthly—Ability to cork up the whoop at the proper moment and keep it in a cool place till needed.
And this last is one of the most important of all. It is the amateur statesman who talks the most. Fearing that he will conceal his identity as a fool, he babbles in conversation and slashes around in his shallow banks in public.
As soon as I get the house plants down cellar and get their overshoes on for the winter, I will more seriously consider the question of our political affairs here in this new land where we have to tie our scalps on at night and where every summer is an Indian summer.
John Adams' Diary
(No. 3.)
December 10.—I have put in a long and exhausting day in the court to-day in the case of Merkins vs. Merkins, a suit for divorce in which I am the counsel for the plaintiff, Eliza J. Merkins.