'Yes, that's the talk of them North County[6] fellers, who've squatted round har. We'll hang every mother's son on 'em, by G——.'
'I wouldn't do that: in a free country [pg 195] every man has a right to his opinions.'
'Not to sech opinions as them. A man may think, but he mustn't think onraasonable.'
'I don't know, but it seems to me reasonable, that if the negroes cost these farmers now one hundred and fifty dollars a year, and they could hire them, if free, for a hundred, that they would make by abolition.'
'Ab'lish'n! By G——, sir, ye ain't an ab'lishener, is ye?' exclaimed the fellow, in an excited tone, bringing his hand down on the table in a way that set the crockery a-dancing.
'Come, come, my friend,' I replied, in a mild tone, and as unruffled as a basin of water that has been out of a December night; 'you'll knock off the dinner things, and I'm not quite through.'
'Wal, sir, I've heerd yer from the North, and I'd like to know if yer an ab'lishener.'
'My dear sir, you surprise me. You certainly can't expect a modest man like me to speak of himself.'
'Ye can speak of what ye d—— please, but ye can't talk ab'lish'n har, by G——,' he said, again applying his hand to the table, till the plates and saucers jumped up, performed several jigs, then several reels, and then rolled over in graceful somersaults to the floor.
At this juncture, the Colonel and Madam P—— entered.