sling mud upon me, I have a porcelain bath!

CHANTECLER
[_Slightly out of patience._] Why not make a practice of talking simply
and to the point?

THE BLACKBIRD
I like to make you sit up, and watch you blinking.

PATOU
Grrrrr--in the plain interest of public decency, I say it behooves us--

THE BLACKBIRD
Don't say behooves, say it's up to you, old chap!

CHANTECLER
What's all this juggling with words?

THE BLACKBIRD
The thing, Chantecler, quite the thing! I knew a city sparrow once, and
it's the way they talk in fashionable circles.

CHANTECLER
I was well acquainted with a little red-breast, who lived beneath a city
poet's eaves; he did not talk like you.

THE BLACKBIRD
I belong to my time. Every chap that's a bit of a swell nowadays must be
a bit of a tough. It's smart, you know.