All we ask is certain general principles.

You go on two legs--" "So do turkeys, sir." "Very true--but you have no feathers." "Neither has a donkey." "All very right, gentlemen--you do not bray, however." "I will not answer for that," put in the captain, sending his leg forwards in a straight line, in a way to raise an outcry in Bob, that almost upset the Leaplower's proposition.
"At all events, gentlemen," he observed, "there is a test that will put the matter at rest, at once." He then desired us, in turn, to pronounce the word "our"-- "OUR liberties"-- "OUR country"-- "OUR firesides"-- "OUR altars," Whoever expressed a wish to be naturalized, and could use this word in the proper manner, and in the proper place, was entitled to be a citizen.

We all did very well but the second mate, who, being a Herefordshire man, could not, for the life of him, get any nearer to the Doric, in the latter shibboleth, than "our halters." Now, it would seem that, in carrying out a great philanthropic principle in Leaplow, halters had been proscribed; for, whenever a rogue did anything amiss, it had been discovered that, instead of punishing him for the offence, the true way to remedy the evil was to punish the society against which he had offended.

By this ingenious turn, society was naturally made to look out sharp how it permitted any one to offend it.

This excellent idea is like that of certain Dutchmen, who, when they cut themselves with an ax, always apply salve and lint to the cruel steel, and leave the wound to heal as fast as possible.
To return to our examination: we all passed but the second mate, who hung in his halter, and was pronounced to be incorrigible.