So was a letter, received in the same mail, from a gentleman in Charleston: It is as plain as the nose on your face that you are not yet convinced that we in the South _never_ use "you-all" with reference to one person.

The case you mentioned proves nothing at all.

The very fact that there were _two_ strangers present justified the use of the expression; we continually use the expression in that way, and in such cases we expect an answer from _both_ persons so addressed.

To illustrate: just a few days ago I "carried" two girls into an "ice-cream parlor." After we were seated, I looked at the one nearest me, and said: "Well, what will you-all have ?" Physically we are so constructed that unless a person is cross-eyed it is impossible to look at two persons at once; the mere fact that I looked at the one nearest me did not mean that I was not addressing both.

I expected an answer from both, and I got it, too (as is generally the case where ice-cream is concerned).
The subject is one to which I have devoted the most careful attention for many years.