"Here my brother S—— and I differ materially. Now this, after all, is very natural. Men seldom see things in the same light; and they may disagree in opinion upon the simplest principles of the law, and that very honestly; while, at the same time, neither, perhaps, can perceive any earthly reason why they should. And this is merely because they look at different sides of the subject, and do not view it in all its bearings.
"Now, let us suppose, for the sake of illustration, that a man should come into this court-room, and boldly assert that my brother S——'s head" (here he laid his hand very familiarly upon the large "chuckle-head" of his opponent) "is a squash! I, on the other hand, should maintain, and perhaps with equal confidence, that it was a head. Now, here would be difference—doubtless an honest difference—of opinion. We might argue about it till doom's-day, and never agree. You often see men arguing upon subjects just as empty and trifling as this! But a third person coming in, and looking at the neck and shoulders that support it, would say at once that I had reason on my side; for if it was ot a head, it at least occupied the place of one: it stood where a head ought to be!"
All this was uttered in the gravest and most solemn manner imaginable, and the effect was irresistibly ludicrous.
Washington Irving, in one of his admirable sketches of Dutch character, describes an old worthy, with a long eel-skin queue, a sort of covering that was "a potent nourisher and strengthener of the hair." This was in "other times;" and here is a "Tail" of that remote period:
"A Tale I'll tell of "other times,"
Because I'm in the mind:
You may have seen the tale before,
I've seen it oft behind.
"There's no detraction in this tale,
or any vile attack,
Or slander when 'tis told, although
It goes behind one's back.
"Impartial auditors it had,
Who ne'er began to rail,
Because there always was an ear
For both sides of the tale.
"But oh, alas! I have forgot,
I am not in the queue;
The tale has just dropped from my head,
As it was wont to do!"