*

aow TO SETTLE A DISPUTE. 117

parties, and to result ina clear understanding
of the real question. ,

A few years since, I happened to be tra-
velling in a stage-coach, where, among half
a dozen passengers, there were a Frenchman
and an Englishman. There seemed to be a
sort of cat-and-dog feeling between them;
for if one opened his lips to speak, the other
was sure to fly at the observation with the
teeth and claws of dispute. As we were
driving along, the Englishman spoke of a
sheep he had seen in some foreign land, with
a tail so long as to drag upon the ground.
Thereupon, the Frenchman shrugged his
shoulders, curled up his lip, lifted his eye-
brows, and took a pinch of snuff.

“ What do you mean by that?” said the.
Englishman, not a little nettled at the con
temptuous air of his rival.

“Vat do I mean said the latter; “]
means dat a sheap has not got von tail
at all.” |

« A sheep has not got a tail, ha?” said the
Englishman.

« No, not von bit,” said the Frenchman.

“Well, this comes of eating frogs,” said

we”
i