16. XVI.
BUSTS.
There are in this city several Italian
gentlemen engaged in the bust business.
They have their peculiarities and eccentricities.
They are swarthy-faced, wear
slouched caps and drab pea-jackets, and
smoke bad cigars. They make busts of
Webster, Clay, Bonaparte, Douglas, and
other great men, living and dead. The
Italian buster comes upon you solemnly
and cautiously. “Buy Napo-leon?” he will
say, and you may probably answer “not a
buy.” “How much giv-ee?” he asks, and
perhaps you will ask him how much he
wants. “Nine dollar,” he will answer always.
We are sure of it. We have observed
this peculiarity in the busters frequently.
No matter how large or small the
bust may be, the first price is invariably
“nine dollar.” If you decline paying this
price, as you undoubtedly will if you are
right in your head, he again asks, “how
much giv-ee?” By way of a joke you say
“a dollar,” when the buster retreats indignantly
to the door, saying in a low, wild
voice, “O dam!” With his hand upon the
door-latch, he turns and once more asks,
“how much giv-ee?” You repeat the previous
offer, when he mutters, “O ha!” then
coming pleasantly towards you, he speaks
thus: “Say! how much giv-ee?” Again
you say a dollar, and he cries, “take 'um—
take 'um!”—thus falling eight dollars on
his original price.
Very eccentric is the Italian buster, and
sometimes he calls his busts by wrong
names. We bought Webster (he called him
Web-STAR) of him the other day, and were
astonished when he called upon us the next
day with another bust of Webster, exactly
like the one we had purchased of him, and
asked us if we didn't want to buy “Cole,
the wife-pizener!” We endeavored to rebuke
the depraved buster, but our utterance
was choked and we could only gaze upon
him in speechless astonishment and indignation.
