 | Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family |  |
HIGH-DUTCH vs. POLITENESS.
HAS the Washington street
train gone by here?”
asked Mrs. Partington of
a gentleman with a huge
mustache, who stood picking
his teeth on the steps
of the Revere House. The
old lady meant the Washington
street omnibus that
runs between the Lowell
depot and Dover street.
The gentleman still picked
his teeth, and looked gravely
at her, but said not a word. “Has the Washington
street train passed by here?” she asked again, thinking
the gentleman had n't heard her. He still stood, and stood
still, and looked and picked, but said nothing. “Well!”
said the old dame, half musing and half addressing the
man with the mustache; “it was only a civil question,
and I did n't think there was anything harmonious in
asking it; but some people thinks it a great hardship to
do any one a favor. It would n't have required much
effort, I should think, to have answered me, nor took a
great deal of anybody's time, nor interfered with anybody's
occupancy. If anybody has got focal organs I
should think they might use 'em.”
“Nein ferstan,” responded the man with the mustache,
as he put his hands beneath his coat-tails, and
walked up the steps, leaving Mrs. Partington standing
like a note of interrogation at the end of her speech,
while the omnibus, which had passed while she was speaking,
was seen far in the distance.
| Life and sayings of Mrs. Partington and others
of the family | |