Now, if they do know them,
why the plague don't they regulate their timepieces by them? If they
did, matrimony wouldn't make such an everlastin' transmogrification of
folks as it does, would it?
The way cupidists scratch their head and open their eyes and stare
after they are married, reminds me of Felix Culpepper. He was a judge
at Saint Lewis, on the Mississippi, and the lawyers used to talk
gibberish to him, yougerry, eyegerry, iggery, ogerry, and tell him it
was Littleton's Norman French and Law Latin. It fairly onfakilised
him. Wedlock works just such changes on folks sometimes. It makes me
laugh, and then it fairly scares me.
Sophy, dear, how will you and I get on, eh? The Lord only knows, but
you are an uncommon sensible gall, and people tell me till I begin to
believe it myself, that I have some common sense, so we must try to
learn the chart of life, so as to avoid those sunk rocks so many
people make shipwreck on. I have often asked myself the reason of all
this onsartainty. Let us jist see how folks talk and think, and decide
on this subject. First and foremost they have got a great many cant
terms, and you can judge a good deal from them. There is the
honeymoon, now, was there ever such a silly word as that? Minister
said the Dutch at New Amsterdam, as they used to call New York,
brought out the word to America, for all the friends of the new
married couple, in Holland, did nothing for a whole month but smoke,
drink metheglin (a tipple made of honey and gin), and they called that
bender the honeymoon; since then the word has remained, though
metheglin is forgot for something better.
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