SEARCH
0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Prev | Current Page 32 | Next

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler, 1796-1865

"The Clockmaker"

If the Hon'ble Daniel Webster had him
afore a jury, I reckon he'd turn him inside out, and slip him back
again, as quick as an old stocking. He'd paint him to the life, as
plain to be known as the head of Gineral Jackson. He's jist a fit
feller for Lynch law, to be tried, hanged, and damned, all at once;
there's more nor him in the country--there's some of the breed in
every county in the Province. Jist one or two to do the dirty work,
as we keep niggers for jobs that would give a white man the cholera.
They ought to pay his passage, as we do with such critters, tell him
his place is taken in the mail coach, and if he is found here after
twenty-four hours, they'd make a carpenter's plumb-bob of him, and
hang him outside the church steeple, to try if it was perpendicular.
He almost always gives judgment for plaintiff, and if the poor
defendant has an offset, he makes him sue it, so that it grinds a
grist both ways for him, like the upper and lower millstone."
People soon began to assemble, some on foot, and others on
horseback and in wagons. Pugnose's tavern was all bustle and
confusion--plaintiffs, defendants, and witnesses, all talking,
quarrelling, explaining, and drinking. "Here comes the Squire," said
one. "I'm thinking his horse carries more roguery than law," said
another. "They must have been in proper want of timber to make a
justice of," said a third, "when they took such a crooked stick as
that.


Pages:
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44