The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman PotterAdams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
General
The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter
Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
Political fiction
"As to that, Mr. Doctor," replied the major, who overheard what was
said, "if you will but leave me your good will, I think I may
venture to get along without your plasters and purgatives, for my
constitution remains undamaged by such things." The doctor now came
to the conclusion that he had been made the victim of a joke, and,
quickly retreating to the deck, he demanded five dollars of the
captain for the visit, admonishing him in no very amiable terms of
the consequences, in case he refused. But the captain had not five
dollars to his back, though, as he expressed it, he had good staunch
property enough to buy a village in Rome. "Then put me ashore!" said
the doctor, "and I will see what virtue there is in the Squire." He
was soon set on shore, with the loss of nothing but his temper,
which is either the cheapest or the dearest thing in the world to
lose, but which may be regained at any time by applying to the
village parson. The anchor was then got up, and with a fine, fair
wind, the "Two Marys" continued on her voyage, to the great joy of
the major, who now began to relate certain things concerning his
residence in Tarpaulin Cove, where, according to his account, he had
held the high office of Justice of the Peace, and given such eminent
satisfaction in the administration of justice, that his name became
famous all over the state. As to the doctor, whose name was Killsly,
the major described him as as arrant a rascal as ever compounded
nostrum or thrust pill down the throat of unwilling patient. "You
may have thought my conduct toward that man unusual, considering the
habitual courtesy of my profession," said the major, addressing the
captain, "but I hold it right, that a man of honor should treat a
great knave, which I knew him to be, precisely in the manner I did.
Killsly, it was found, shortly after he came to live at the Cove,
had been an abortionist in New York, where he dashed about in a
livery of great brightness, and had a purloined crest of so curious
a device that no one could make out what it meant, though several
had applied to Mr. Hayes, of Broadway, who supplied the wives of
grocers and linen drapers with arms and crests, (as the dwellers in
Snob Avenue have it,) charging only four shillings and sixpence for
his services, including advice as to what color the livery ought to
be. Killsly was in high favor with what is there called fashionable
society, which, out of sheer respect for his skill, afforded him no
few opportunities for the exercise of it. At length he got mixed up
in a singularly delicate but very common difficulty, which rendered
it desirable to make a change of residence. Well, he came to the
Cove, and here might have lived as every good man ought to live,
loving God and keeping his fingers out of his neighbor's affairs;
but a damsel, who tossed her feathers at the rustics of the village,
and would coquette only with city beaux, chanced to be overtaken by
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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