FRENCH DIALECT RECITATION.
Not long since, a sober, middle-aged gentleman was quietly dozing in one of our railroad-trains, when his pleasant, drowsy meditations were suddenly interrupted by the sharp voice of the individual by his side. This was no less a personage than a dandified, hot-blooded, inquisitive Frenchman, who raised his hairy visage close to that of the gentleman he addressed.
"Pardonnez, sare; but vat you do viz ze pictair—hein?"
As he spoke, monsieur pointed to some beautiful steel-plate engravings in frames, which the quiet gentleman held in his lap, and which suited the fancy of the little French connoisseur precisely.
The quiet gentleman looked at the inquisitive foreigner with a scowl which he meant to be very forbidding, and made no reply. The Frenchman, nothing daunted, once more approached his hairy visage into that of his companion, and repeated the question:—
"Vat you do viz ze pictair—hein?"
"I am taking them to Salem," replied the quiet gentleman gruffly.
"Ha! you take 'em to sell 'em!" chimed in the shrill voice of the Frenchman. "I be glad of zat, by gar! I like ze pictair. I buy 'em of you, sare. Mow much you ask?"
"They are not for sale," replied the sleepy gentleman, more thoroughly awake, by the by, and not a little irritated.
"Hein?" grunted monsieur in astonishment. "Vat you say, sare?"