As Mr. Lawson, in a naphtha launch, passed the rowboat containing the girl, she called out:
"Hullo, Tom, how's copper?"
Instantly came the retort: "First-rate. How's brass?"
The Deacon Smelled Sulfur.
Old Deacon Morse was as good at repartee as any man living. One time he was taking a vessel down New York Harbor. Another vessel collided with his, and the two drifted on together.
"Cut loose! Cut loose!" called the other captain.
Morse couldn't, but demanded that the other do so. This the stranger wouldn't do, but he warned Morse that if he didn't they would soon reach Hell Gate.
"Well," replied Morse, "you won't stop at the gate if you don't cut loose from us in about two minutes!"
Laying Up Treasure for Heaven.
Francis Baylies, an historian of note, on returning from a church meeting one Thanksgiving Day, met Nicholas Tillinghast, one of the most humorous and also one of the most eloquent of the members of the Bristol County bar, in the sitting-room of an hotel.