Patience.—“Did’st ever see the brood hen puff up with self-esteem when all her chicks go for a swim?”
Doctor.—“Let’s analyze that and see if there’s anything in it.”
Patience.—“Strain the potion. Mayhap thou wilt find a fly.”
This will be sufficient to illustrate Patience’s form of speech and her ready wit. It also shows something of the character of the people to whom and through whom she has usually spoken. They are not solemn investigators nor “pussy-footed” charlatans. There is no ceremony about the sitting, no dimmed lights, no compelled silences, no mummeries of any sort. The assistance is of the ordinary, fun-loving, somewhat irreverent American type. The board is brought into the living-room under the full glare of the electric lamps. The men perhaps smoke their cigars. If Patience seems to be in the humor for conversation, all may take part, and she hurls her javelins impartially. A visitor is at once brought within the umbra of her wit.
Her conversation, as already indicated, is filled with epigrams and maxims. A book could be made from these alone. They are, of course, not always original. What maxims are? But they are given on the instant, without possibility of previous thought, and are always to the point. Here are a few of these prompt aphorisms:
“A lollypop is but a breeder of pain.”
“An old goose gobbles the grain like a gosling.”
“Dead resolves are sorry fare.”
“The goose knoweth where the bin leaketh.”