Talleyrand said of Madame de Staël, "disguised as a woman," in the
person of Hannah or Mirandy. Some of the incidents have been drawn from
life; none of them, I believe, from my own. I should like to be
considered a member of the Church of the Best Licks, however.

It has been in my mind to append some remarks, philological and
otherwise, upon the dialect, but Professor Lowell's admirable and
erudite preface to the Biglow Papers must be the despair of every one
who aspires to write on Americanisms. To Mr. Lowell belongs the
distinction of being the only one of our most eminent authors and the
only one of our most eminent scholars who has given careful attention to
American dialects. But while I have not ventured to discuss the
provincialisms of the Indiana backwoods, I have been careful to preserve
the true _usus loquendi_ of each locution.

BROOKLYN, December, 1871.




CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I
PAGE
A Private Lesson from a Bulldog . . . 37

CHAPTER II.
A Spell Coming. . . . . . . . . . . . 52

CHAPTER III.