'
"'Liddy,' sais I, 'don't be so pesky starch, I'll be dod fetched if I
meant any harm, but you beat me all holler. I only spoke of the calf,
and you went a streak higher and talked of the garter.'
"'Sam,' said she, 'you was always the most impedent, forredest, and
pertest boy that ever was, and travellin' hain't improved you one mite
or morsel.'
"'I am sorry I have offended you, Liddy,' sais I, 'but really now, how
do you manage to teach all them things with hard names, for we never
even heard of them at Slickville? Have you any masters?'
"'Masters,' said she, 'the first one that entered this college would
ruin it for ever. What, a man in this college! where the juvenile
pupils belong to the first families--I guess not. I hire a young lady
to teach rudiments.'
"'So I should think,' sais I, 'from the specimen I saw at your door,
she was rude enough in all conscience.'
"'Pooh,' said she, 'well, I have a Swiss lady that teaches French,
German, Spanish, and Italian, and an English one that instructs in
music and drawing, and I teach history, geography, botany, and the
sciences, and so on.'
"'How on earth did you learn them all?' said I, 'for it puzzles me.'
"'Between you and me, Sam,' said she, 'for you know my broughtens up,
and it's no use to pretend--primary books does it all, there is
question and answer. I read the question, and they learn the answer.
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