But his jesting mood did not save him, and he was given another kind of job for a time.
When Rube comes to town there is a lot of fun poked at the rustic, and even gold bricks slipped into his pockets in exchange for the coveted long green.
And no doubt some of you good people know from experience that when a city man migrates to the country the farmers delight to expose his ignorance of things generally. I had an experience of that sort last summer when I engaged board for my little outfit at Farmer Wilkins'.
We arrived late in the evening and retired to our shuck mattresses very soon, being tired from the journey; so the tiller of the soil didn't have much of a chance to make my acquaintance.
Early in the morning I was abroad, and ran across Wilkins and his hired man milking the cows.
"Mornin'," said he, "come to find out whichever keow gives the buttermilk, or p'r'aps ye thought to be airly enough to hear the haycock crow?" and he tipped a wink at his man, who was enjoying the fun.
"Well, neither, to tell the truth, Mr. Wilkins," I remarked, "I've just been out tying a knot in a cord of wood."