Well,
one day he was out with a party of them same coons, and they began to
run the old rig on him as usual. And he jumps up on eend, and in a
joking kind o' way, said: 'Gentlemen, can any of you stitch a
button-hole, with the button in it?' Well, they all roared out at that
like mad.
"'No, Sirree,' sais they, 'but come, show us Thimble, will you? that's
a good fellow. Tom, fetch the goose to press it when it's done. Dick,
cabbage a bit of cloth for him to try it upon. Why, Tom, you are as
sharp as a needle.'
"'Well,' sais he, 'I'll show you.'
"So he went to a tree, and took out of his pocket a fip-penny bit,
that had a hole in the centre, and putting in it a small nail, which
he had provided, he fastened it to the tree.
"'Now,' said he, taking out a pair of pistols, and lots of ammunition,
from the bottom of his prog-basket, where he had hid them. 'Now,' said
he, 'gentlemen, the way to stitch a buttonhole, is to put balls all
round that button, in a close ring, and never disturb them; that's
what we tailors call workmanlike:' and he fired away, shot after shot,
till he had done it.
"'Now,' said he,' gentlemen, that button has to be fastened;' and he
fired, and drove the nail that it hung on into the tree. 'And now,
gentlemen,' said he, 'I have stood your shots for many a long day,
turn about is fair play. The first man that cracks a joke at me, on
account of my calling, must stand my shot, and 'if I don't stitch his
button-hole for him, I am no tailor; that's all.
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