The chair went on rapidly enumerating the sundry misdeeds of the Yankee,
demanding, and in most cases receiving, rapid and unhesitating
replies--evasively and adroitly framed, for the offender well knew that
a single unlucky word or phrase would bring down upon his shoulders a
wilderness of blows.
"You are again charged, Bunce, with having sold to Colonel Blundell a
coffee-pot and two tin cups, all of which went to pieces--the solder
melting off at the very sight of the hot water."
"Well, lawyer, it stands to reason I can't answer for that. The tin
wares I sell stand well enough in a northern climate: there may be some
difference in yours that I can't account for; and I guess, pretty much,
there is. Now, your people are a mighty hot-tempered people, and take a
fight for breakfast, and make three meals a day out of it: now, we in
the north have no stomach for such fare; so here, now, as far as I can
see, your climate takes pretty much after the people, and if so, it's no
wonder that solder can't stand it.
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