"Where is Wood, who used to drive this stage?"
"He be's lait up mit ter rummatiz sence yesterweek, und I trives for
him. So--" I went on reading a newspaper: a fellow-passenger, on a back
seat, not having the fear of murdered English on his hands, coaxed the
Dutch driver into a long conversation, much to the delight of a very
pretty Jersey-blue belle, who laughed so merrily that it was contagious;
and in a few minutes, from being like unto a conventicle, we were all as
wide awake as one of Christy's audiences. By sunrise we were in
excellent spirits, up to all sorts of fun; and when, a little later on,
our stage stopped at the first watering-place, the driver found himself
the center of a group of treaters to the distilled "juice of apples." It
is just as easy to say "apple-jack," and be done with it; but the
writer, being very anxious to form a style, cribs from all quarters. The
so oft-repeated expression "juice of the grape" has been for a long time
on his hands, and, wishing to work it up, he would have done it in this
case, only he fears the skepticism of his readers. By courtesy, they may
wink at the poetical license of a reporter of a public dinner who calls
turnip-juice and painted whisky "juice of the grape," but they would not
allow the existence, for one minute, of such application to the liquors
of a Jersey tavern.
Pages:
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96