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THE late Mr. Carrick of renowned
local celebrity as a literary man and a wit, author of
The Life of Sir William Wallace, was
exceedingly ready in giving a humorous turn to conversation, and in making
his inferences tell with the
happiest effect on the arguments of an adversary. Mr. Carrick happened to
be present at a dining party, where a recent importation from Sam Slick’s
country was holding large discourse on the advantages—political, moral,
social, natural, and intellectual—of America.
"Ay," says one, "your liberty,
too—how universal! no preference. Noah’s descendants, of all shades, blend
so delightfully."
"Ah, what of that black population;
they are only fit for ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’; or, as so
many of them are, raisers of tobacco, cotton, and sugar; and, hark ye, I
had rather be a marble-headed negro in the Virginian or other Southern
States than one of your Paisley weavers.’
"Ye would," remarked Mr. Carrick;
"aye be sure of a black coat to your back, at ony rate."
Of course the reader is aware that
the blot on the American escutcheon
hit
at in the above anecdote was wiped out in the late Civil War, at the cost
of seas of blood, and heaps of money. |
