Dave let him tell his story, an' he didn't say nothin' fer a minute or two, an' then he says, 'What made ye come to me ?' he says.

'Did he send ye ?' "'Wa'al,' says Smith, 'when it was clear that he couldn't do nuthin', we ast him if the' wa'n't nobody could put up fer him, an' he said you was his brother, an' well off, an' hadn't ought to let him go t' the poorhouse.' "'He said that, did he ?' says Dave.
"'Amountin' to that,' says Smith.
"'Wa'al,' says Dave, 'it's a good many years sence I see 'Lish, an' mebbe you know him better 'n I do.

You known him some time, eh ?' "'Quite a number o' years,' says Smith.
"'What sort of a feller was he,' says Dave, 'when he was somebody?
Putty good feller?
good citizen?
good neighber?
lib'ral?
kind to his fam'ly?
ev'rybody like him?
gen'ally pop'lar, an' all that ?' "'Wa'al,' says Smith, wigglin' in his chair an' pullin' out his whiskers three four hairs to a time, 'I guess he come some short of all that.' "'E'umph!' says Dave, 'I guess he did! Now, honest,' he says, '_is_ the' man, woman, or child in Whitcom that knows 'Lish Harum that's got a good word fer him?
or ever knowed of his doin' or sayin' anythin' that hadn't got a mean side to it some way?
Didn't he drive his wife off, out an' out?
an' didn't his two boys hev to quit him soon 's they could travel?
_An'_,' says Dave, 'if any one was to ask you to figure out a pattern of the meanist human skunk you was capable of thinkin' of, wouldn't it--honest, now!' Dave says, 'honest, now--wouldn't it be 's near like 'Lish Harum as one buckshot 's like another ?'" "My!" exclaimed Mrs.Cullom.

"What did Mr.Smith say to that ?" "Wa'al," replied Mrs.Bixbee, "he didn't say nuthin' at fust, not in so many words.

He sot fer a minute clawin' away at his whiskers--an' he'd got both hands into 'em by that time--an' then he made a move as if he gin the hull thing up an' was goin'.