There was myself, and an old
gentleman with large spectacles, gold-headed cane, and a jolly,
soldering-iron-looking nose; by him was a circus-rider, whose breath was
enough to breed yaller fever and could be felt just as easy as cotton
velvet! A cross old woman came next, whose look would have given any
reasonable man the double-breasted blues before breakfast; alongside of
her was a rale backwoods preacher, with the biggest and ugliest mouth
ever got up since the flood. He was flanked by the low comedian of the
party, an Indiana Hoosier, 'gwine down to Orleans to get an army
contrac' to supply the forces, then in Mexico, with beef.
"We rolled along for some time. Nobody seemed inclined to 'open.' The
old aunty sat bolt upright, looking crab-apples and persimmons at the
hoosier and the preacher; the young lady dropped the green curtain of
her bonnet over her pretty face, and leaned back in her seat to nod and
dream over japonicas and jumbles, pantalets and poetry; the old
gentleman, proprietor of the Bardolph nose, looked out at the corduroy
and swashes; the gambler fell off into a doze, and the circus convoy
followed suit, leaving the preacher and me _vis-a-vis_ and saying
nothing to nobody.
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