In
course of nature they must talk that lingo, for they are quilted in
French--kissed in French--fed in French--and put to bed in
French,--and told to pray to the Virgin in French, for that's the
language she loves best. She knows a great many languages, but she
can't speak English since Henry the Eighth's time, when she said to
him, 'You be fiddled,' which meant, the Scotch should come with their
fiddles and rule England.
"Still somehow I feel strange when these little critters address me in
it, or when women use it to me (tho' I don't mind that so much, for
there are certain freemason signs the fair sex understand all over the
world), but the men puzzle me like Old Scratch, and I often say to
myself, What a pity it is the critters can't speak English. I never
pity myself for not being able to jabber French, but I blush for their
ignorance. However, all this is neither here nor there. Now, Doctor,
how can you tell this fog is booked for the twelve o'clock train? Is
there a Bradshaw for weather?"
"Yes," said he, "there is, do you hear that?"
"I don't hear nothing," sais I, "but two Frenchmen ashore a jawing
like mad. One darsen't, and t'other is afraid to fight, so they are
taking it out in gab--they ain't worth listening to. How do they tell
you the weather?"
"Oh," said he, "it ain't them. Do you hear the falls at my lake? the
west wind brings that to us.
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