Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-02-28
DAILY EVENING STAR.
A HUMOROUS STORY.

The editor of the Knick booker has re
peatedty asserted, with as much elo
quence as truth, that s'ours is grea
kedintry." This proposition may be de
monstrated by that other novel and sci
dom quoted proverb, which arserts fha,
zone half the world don't know how tn.
other half lives. p The Northern part O
the United States are even yet in pro.
found ignorance o. social life in the Yves
and South. The exaggerated statement.
of professional tourists and scribblers
whose aim is to make a good story, wht
draw upon their Imagination for theil
facts, and their memory for their details,
have been by our Northern neighbors
readily gulped down as actualities, and
taking a part for the whole, they hav,
formed singularly erroneous ideas of us
and our daily life. The fact is, one grea,
element in Western character is a consti.
tutional tendency to hyperbole and exag.
geration. Travellers, especially those
who are professedly in search of material
for a book, are the peculiar victims of this
tendency. No sooner is the note book
drawn than everybody is ready with q
store Of little anecdotes Of personal ex.
perience, not one of which is even found.
ed on fact"
Marvels most marvellous are rapidly
transferred from the lips of the obligine
friend or fellow traveller to the pages Of
his victim, who is hoaxed, cANARDE, OF
in Western phrase, "put through, /" fooled
to the top Of his bent. That dear, good
old Mrs. Stowe is rich example of what
we have been saying. Poor old lady her
victimization in this way is really laugh.
able. We are not at all certain, however
that for a sum of money equal to the pro.
fits of her Tom-foolery, We would not
now consent to undergo an equal amount
of humbugging. You have very large
hand, Captain" remarked a slender
young New Englander, who had been
fercely threatening to publish an account
of his tour in the slave States, to raw
boned boatman on the Ohio. .f go.
.5s's should say had, replied the Cap
tain, as he thrust forward his hard, Draw
ny fist within an inch ,r so of the young
ster's nose. g l should say had," and
here the young gentleman began to retire
from the formidable assemblage of over
grown bones, flesh and muscles. 'Do
you know how | got it sir" shouted the
Captain, in voice like the roar of the
surf, and following up the tourist as he
retired. "Do you know how | got it,
sir I'll tell you; l made this hand hard,
sir, by knocking down niggers. That
the way it 60 hard, and [ know many a
mans that's harder, from the same cause,
by -, sir"
The young Abolitionist precipitately
retired, and not long after the Captain
had the satisfaction of receiving an aboli-
ton journal, wherein it was gravely as
serted with becoming indignation, that
the brawny hands of the Western boat
men had often been made the subject Of
comment, and they were occasioned gsn,
orally by habit of knocking the heads
of the negroes in their employ, fact of
which they boast loudly in every COM
pany. ... .....'. -r
This is not an isolated instance of the
exercise of this malicious humor. Hun
dreds of such ca1drdes are practised every
day, on all conceivable subjects.