“It is a pure but a powerful spirit,” he said, smiling. “In Peebles the other day they told me a good story about it.
“It seems that a Peebles lawyer and his clerk had been to a wedding of the real, old-fashioned sort. On the way home the lawyer said, as they were crossing the famous Peebles iron bridge:
“‘Noo, Saunders, mon, I’ll juist gang on ahead a meenit, an’ ye’ll tell me if I’m walkin’ straucht.’
“So the lawyer walked ahead, and then called back:
“‘Straucht, Saunders?’
“‘Straucht’s a die,’ Saunders answered; ‘but—hic—wha’s that wi’ ye?’”
WHY HE WAS A DEMOCRAT
“The old teacher in one of the smaller schools near my native town of Peekskill,” said Senator Depew, “had drilled a number of his brightest scholars in the history of contemporary politics, and to test their faith and their knowledge he called upon three of them one day and demanded a declaration of personal political principles.
“You are a Republican, Tom, are you not?” inquired he of the first. “Yes, sir,” was the answer. “And, Bill, you are a Prohibitionist, I believe?” “Yes, sir,” said Bill. “And, Jim, you are a Democrat?” “Yes, sir,” said Jim.
“Well, now,” continued the teacher, “the one of you that gives the best reason why he belongs to his party can have this live woodchuck which I caught on my way to school this morning.”