And if I ever throw four sixes, it
is when I am tackling some unsuspecting old ass of a watering place
echo.
I consider them "_holler_ mockeries."
Of course we steamed within proper distance, and I seized the
opportunity to "put a head on" this venerable two-ply nuisance, as
follows:
First, I read a page of a Patent Office Report I go armed with.
This the Echo, with very little hesitation, repeated in duplicate as
usual. From one side of the rock in English, and from the other in fair
French.
I saw at once that old EK was pretty well filled.
Next I sang "Listen to the Mocking Bird," which it repeated very
creditably indeed, dropping but two notes on the third verse. This it
made up for, I am bound to admit, by throwing in some original
variations in the chorus.
But I hadn't played from my sleeve yet, so I recited HAMLET'S Soliloquy.
From the wooded slope on our right came the familiar "_To be_" of BOOTH,
while from the sloping woods on our left proceeded a finely rendered
imitation of the Teutonic FECHTER, in the same.
This staggered me!
I had one more jack in my cuff, however. I pulled out a copy of the
Tribune and read a few paragraphs of GREELEY'S "What do I know about
Farming."
_That settled him!_
He never got to the first semi-colon. It knocked the breath right out of
him!
The poor old fossil had to quit. He changed his repeater to a leaver.
But then you see he had held the office a good while.
He hasn't left the business to any one, either.
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