I sees him yere an' I sees him thar; an', Jedge,
he's either pig or pup, whichever way he likes.'
"'"An', ladies an' gents," concloodes this Witherspoon, makin' a
incriminatin' gesture so's to incloode my grandfather that a-way;
"when I reflects on this onblushin' turncoat, Jack Sterett, as I
states prior, it makes me think of how Jedge Chinn lavishes that
Berkshire shoat on blacksmith Bill Hatfield. Confessin' that
aforetime he's a nullification pig on Mink Run, he sets yere at this
barbecue an' without color of shame declar's himse'f a union pup.
Mister Cha'rman, all I can say is, it shore beats squinch owls!"
"'As the story is finished, the trooce which binds my grandfather
ends, an' he pulls his bowie-knife an' chases this Witherspoon from
the rostrum. He'd had his detractor's skelp right thar, but the
cha'rman an' other leadin' sperits interferes, an' insists on them
resentments of my grandfather's findin' the usual channel in their
expression. Witherspoon, who's got on a new blanket coat, allows he
won't fight none with knives as they cuts an' sp'iles your clothes;
he says he prefers rifles an' fifty paces for his. My grandfather,
who's the easiest gent to get along with in matters of mere detail,
is agree'ble; an' as neither him nor Witherspoon has brought their
weepons, the two vice pres'dents, who's goin' to act as seconds--the
pres'dent by mootual consent dealin' the game as referee--rummages
about air' borrys a brace of Looeyville rifles from members of the
Black B'ar Glee Club--they're the barytone an' tenor--an' my
grandfather an' the scandal-mongerin' Witherspoon is stood up.
"'"Gents," says the pres'dent, "the words will be, 'Fire-one-two-
three-stop.' It's incumbent on you-all to blaze away anywhere
between the words 'Fire' an' 'Stop'. My partin' injunctions is, 'May
heaven defend the right,' an' be shore an' see your hindsights as
you onhooks your guns."
"'At the word, my grandfather an' Witherspoon responds prompt an'
gay. Witherspoon overshoots, while my grandfather plants his lead in
among Witherspoon's idees, an' that racontoor quits Kaintucky for
the other world without a murmur.
"'"I regyards this event as a vict'ry for Jackson an' principle,"
says my grandfather, as he's called on to proceed with his oration,
"an' I'd like to say in that connection, if Henry Clay will count
his spoons when he next comes sneakin' home from Washin'ton, he'll
find he's short Spence Witherspoon."'
"'Your grandfather's a troo humorist,' says Texas Thompson, as
Colonel Sterett pauses in them recitals of his to reach the bottle;
'I looks on that last witticism of his as plumb apt.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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