“Did you never see one before?” said I.
“Never in my life,” he replied; “men from the north country seldom show themselves in these parts.”
“Well,” said I; “I am not ashamed to say that I come from the north.”
“Ain’t you? Well, I don’t know that you have any particular reason to be ashamed, for it is rather your misfortune than your fault; but the idea of any one coming from the north—ho, ho!”
“Perhaps in the north,” said I, “they laugh at a man from the south.”
“Laugh at a man from the south! No, no; they can’t do that.”
“Why not?” said I; “why shouldn’t the north laugh at the south as well as the south at the north?”
“Why shouldn’t it? why, you talk like a fool. How could the north laugh at the south as long as the south remains the south and the north the north? Laugh at the south! you talk like a fool, David, and if you go on in that way I shall be angry with you. However, I’ll excuse you; you are from the north, and what can one expect from the north but nonsense? Now tell me, do you of the north eat and drink like other people? What do you live upon?”
“Why, as for myself,” said I; “I generally live on the best I can get.”
“Let’s hear what you eat; bacon and eggs?