' 'Who do you call great folks?'
said I, 'for I vow I havn't seed one since I came here. The only one
that I know that comes near hand to one is Nicholas Overknocker,
that lives all along shore, about Margaret's Bay, and HE IS a great
man--it takes a yoke of oxen to drag him. When I first seed him, says
I, "What on airth is the matter o' that man, has he the dropsy? For
he is actilly the greatest man I ever seed; he must weigh the matter
of five hundred weight; he'd cut three inches on the rib; he must
have a proper sight of lard, that chap." No,' says I, 'don't call 'em
great men, for there ain't a great man in the country, that's a fact;
there ain't one that desarves the name; folks will only larf at you
if you talk that way. There may be some rich men, and I believe there
be, and it's a pity there warn't more on 'em, and a still greater
pity they have so little spirit or enterprise among 'em, but a
country is none the worse of having rich men in it, you may depend.
Great folks! Well, come, that's a good joke, that bangs the bush. No,
my friend,' says I, 'the meat that's at the top of the barrel, is
sometimes not so good as that that's a little further down; the
upper and lower eends are plaguy apt to have a little taint in 'em,
but the middle is always good.'
"'Well,' says the Bluenose, 'perhaps they bean't great men, exactly
in that sense, but they are great men compared to us poor folks;
and they eat up all the revenue; there's nothin' left for roads and
bridges; they want to ruin the country, that's a fact.
Pages:
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176