"I reckon," said the Clockmaker, as we strolled through Amherst, "you
have read Hook's story of the boy that one day asked one of his
father's guests who his next door neighbour was, and when he heerd
his name, asked him if he warn't a fool. 'No, my little feller,' said
he, 'he bean't a fool, he is a most particular sensible man; but why
did you ax that 'ere question?' 'Why,' said the little boy, 'mother
said t'other day you were next door to a fool, and I wanted to know
who lived next door to you.' His mother felt pretty ugly, I guess,
when she heerd him run right slap on that 'ere breaker.
"Now these Cumberland folks have curious next door neighbours, too;
they are placed by their location right atwixt fire and water; they
have New Brunswick politics on one side, and Nova Scotia politics
on t'other side of them, and Bay Fundy and Bay Varte on t'other two
sides; they are actilly in hot water; they are up to their cruppers
in politics, and great hands for talking of House of Assembly,
political Unions, and what not. Like all folks who wade so deep, they
can't always tell the natur' of the ford. Sometimes they strike their
shins agin a snag of a rock; at other times they go whap into a
quicksand, and if they don't take special care they are apt to go
souse over head and ears into deep water. I guess if they'd talk more
of ROTATION, and less of ELECTIONS, more of them 'ere DYKES, and less
of BANKS, and attend more to TOP-DRESSING, and less to RE-DRESSING,
it'd be better for 'em.
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