The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-03-24
Proe,os Knot, and Mf. Watkins.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, January Is. iSs3. Proctor Knott and Mf. Watkins.
 New York Ts,bsue's Washington Letter. Proctor Knott, who has the reputation
 of being the best stoy-teller ln Ken lucky. where most of the good story
 teliers live, gave an account of an inter view with a certain Mir. Watkins, of Yer
 mont. which he told with skill of facial
 expression that would have made his for
 tune on the stage. The rules about ad- mission to the floor of the House arc very
 strict, and conversation with member
 can only be had by an outsider by send ing m card through the doorkeeper
 when the member emerges, hurr,cs
 through the talk, and goes in again. As
 members arc usually pretty well occupied II IS expected that these interviews shall
 be as bnef as possible. One day MT
 Knott received the card ef Mf. Watkins.
 of Vermont whom he did not know. He
 went out. met long, lean man with d
 solemn countcnanee, and this eonverSa-
 ton followed:
 '.Bc you Mir. Knott, the funny man :'
 Yes. sir," said Mir. Knott promptly.
 ''and I'm great deal funn,er than you 'd
 suppose. The fact is that don't dare 10
 be as funny as can be. I've already
 sacrihced the lives of several of my
 friends through reckless exercise oi my humorous powers, and go about under
 a constant sense of self restraint
 ''Bc you from the Biue-giass region or
 the penny-Daly"
 ..rm from the penny-ryal.' Here Mir
 Knott began to be a iittle uneasy. They
 were just beginning a roll-call in the
 House. Mir. Watkins shifted 10 hls other
 foot, and began again:
 What kind of cattle do they have down
 m kcn,ueky!'
 Well, VIC still have very tne breed of the megaihefium there. Bu, the pie
 iosaurus and the iethyosaufus. I'm
 sorry to say, are rapidly dying
 out It. will be great loss to
 the state, because they are very tame and
 have been used A great deal io, domestic
 purposes. A good many oi the ladies
 make pets of them
 Mir. Watkins seemed little surpassed
 but he got on the other foot and hange d
 the subject:
 .Do you know Mary Anderson ~
 "Oh, very well.
 ''ls she SD puIty ?"
 "Ravishingly beautiful" Mir. Watkins paused moment. Mir.
 Knott could hear the roll-call traveling rapidly toward the Ks
 ''Did you ever see her play in Romeo and Julie: r"
 "Oh, frequently"
 Do you think Romeo and Juliet IS the best play Shakespeare ever wrote! Well. now. my inend, you'll have to excuse ne from expressing an opinion on that point You see. I'm coming up for reelection, and feeling IS running pretty high Tn my district now on that very question. About half of my constituents say that Romeo and Juliet' Is the bes, play Shakespeare ever wrote, and abou, halt of them swear II isn't. 50, you see, l if should commit myself II would dam age me very much in the campaign" oh. said Mir Watkins. Then hc : pulled out Of his pocket d little Connectl- : cut watch, about the size of quarter , dollar Do they sell many of them |. down in Kentucky"
 : Well. I've forgotten the price per peck said MT. Knott they're usuall, sold by the peck They don, often sell bushel at a time"
 Mir. Watkins was surprised, but he :, didn't go away. He only changed to the ! other loot, Mean~i.i ile, the reading clerk inside the hall had begun on The Ks Say, l sec in the I,r-6Hae that Il took regiment of men and two cannon to hang man down m Kentucky. Now, l want to know if that's SO! No, sir; it IS not so. That 7yy-bEn. IS most untrust~or,hy newspaper. The , truth is this We know t has been sad lately in the north that we couldn't hang d man for murder in Kentucky, and sc ws made up our minds that we mus , have hanging for the bench, of the state. There ~as ulal ending { just then and we agreed tha : the fact ihA, the Jury had ac. quilted the man couldn't be allowed te . interfere. To be sure, he was innocent ii was a perfectly clear case-bst tn, honor of Kentucky was al stake, anc s what could we do! We hanged him sir, but ii took whole brigade of sol T diers and d park of artillery to do Il. Thai ' shows you just how near that T,y-eaae goes to the facts
 ? Say, there's another thing wanted to see you about I've heard that peopl. 1, down your say chew and smoke during 5 meeting. That ain't so, is it.n
 Mir. Knott was angry al last "No, sir, itt f an infamous falsehood. It's troe that th' boys usually have poker detk in thei
 pockets, and fl the sermon IS a lii,ie loni
 they ge; down between the pews anc
 have little game and open bottle 0 D whisky. But the s,aienen, that thel ? chew tobacco during church serv'ces is ; |; miserable lie of the Yankee press" Mir. Watkins seemed satIsfcd with thi :, assurance. He stood still a moment c Well. thought I'd hke 10 make you acquaintance, Mir. Knott" and he ven
 away, and the Kentucky member aec i. the hall in time to be counted among , the s,ragzIers on the roll-call. He offeses to prove by Joe" Blackburn tha, thu : entire conversation actually took place 1 but the company preferred to take th' I story without any security.