"It is one of the most amusing scenes imaginable," said Victor Chevillere to Augustus Lamar, as they sat witnessing this scene, "when the waiter and the master pro tempore are both fools. The fawning, bowing, cringing waiter, with his big lips upon the _qui vive_, his head and shoulders constantly in motion, and rubbing his hands one over the other after the most approved fashion of the men of business. In such a case as that which we have just witnessed, where puppyism comes in contact with the kindred monkey-tricks of the waiter, I can enjoy it. But when it happens, as I have more than once seen, that the waiter is a manly, sensible, and dignified old negro of the loftier sort, such as old Cato,--then you can soon detect the curl of contempt upon his lip,--and he is not long thereafter in selecting the real gentlemen of the party,--always choosing to wait most upon those who least demand it." "I would bet my horse Talleyrand against an old field scrub, that that fellow is a Yankee," answered Lamar. "He may be a Yankee," continued Victor Chevillere, "but you have travelled too much and reflected too long upon the nature of man, to ascribe every thing disgusting to a Yankee origin. For my part, I make the character of every man I meet in some measure my study during my travels, and as we have agreed to exchange opinions upon men and things, I will tell you freely what I think of that fellow who has just retreated from our laughter. I have found it not at all uncommon, to see the most undisguised hatred arise between two such persons as he of the stage-coach,--the one from the north, and the other from the south,--when in truth, the actuating impulse was precisely the same in both, but had taken a different direction, and was differently developed by different exciting causes. "The puppyism of Charleston and that of Boston are only different shades of the same character, yet these kindred spirits can in nowise tolerate each other. As is universally the case, those are most intolerant to others who have most need of forgiveness themselves. The mutual jealousy of the north and south is a decided evidence of littleness in both regions, and ample cause for shame to the educated gentlemen of all parties of this happy country. If pecuniary interest had not been mixed up with this provincial rivalry, the feeling could easily have been so held up to the broad light of intelligence, as to be a fertile source of amusement, and furnish many a subject for comedy and farce in after-times." This specimen was by no means the only one among the arrivals by the stage-coach. Every waiter in the house was pressed into the service of these coxcombs,--some smoked,--some swaggered through the private rooms,--others adjusted their frizzled locks at the mirrors with brushes carried for the purpose,--and all together created a vast commotion in the quiet country inn.