"No, Sir; I never heard of it."

"Why, you don't mean to say so?"

"I do, indeed, I assure you."

"Well, if that don't pass! And you never even heerd tell
of it, eh?"

"Never, Sir. I have never either seen it or heard of it."

"I thought as much," said Mr. Slick. "I doubt if any
Britisher ever did or ever will see it. Well, Sir, in
South Carolina, there is a man called Josiah Wormwood;
I am ashamed to say he is a Connecticut man. For a
considerable of a spell, he was a strollin' preacher,
but it didn't pay in the long run. There is so much
competition in that line in our country, that he consaited
the business was overdone, and he opened a Lyceum to
Charleston South Car, for boxin', wrestlin' and other
purlite British accomplishments; and a most a beautiful
sparrer he is, too; I don't know as I ever see a more
scientific gentleman than he is, in that line. Lately,
he has halfed on to it the art of gougin' or 'monokolisin,'
as he calls it, to sound grand; and if it weren't so
dreadful in its consequences, it sartinly is amost allurin'
thing, is gougin'. The sleight-of-hand is beautiful. All
other sleights we know are tricks; but this is reality;
there is the eye of your adversary in your hand; there
is no mistake. It's the real thing. You feel you have