'Ouch—good woman—how it hurts!' he cried. But that was only the beginning of it.
'Ee-ea-ah!' he roared, as it grew hotter and hotter. One might have heard him a mile. The neighbors did hear it, and rushed in. The joke was 'contaminated' round among them, and they enjoyed it. He had disgusted them all.
'Golly! what a big head!' cried a bystander.
The legislator took another look at the glass. They held it about a yard from him.
'It's gittin' smaller, ain't it?' he groaned.
'Yes, it's wiltin',' said the landlady. 'Now go to bed.'
He went, and on rising departed. Whether he ever became an honest man is not known, but the legend says he has from that day avoided 'bust-head whiskey.'
Don't you see it, reader? The landlady had shown him his face in a convex mirror—one of those old-fashioned things, which may occasionally be found in country taverns.