"You niggers livin' heah on dis heah little truck-patch 'ain' got no notion o' Mount Vernon," said Billy, loftily, one night, to an audience of the house-servants in the "charmber." "De house is as big as de co't-house in Fredericksburg, an' when me an' Marse George gits it we gwi' buil' a gre't piece to it. An' de hosses--Lord, dem hosses! You 'ain' never seen so many hosses sence you been born. An' de coaches--y'all thinks de Earl o' F'yarfax got a mighty fine coach--well, de ve'y oldes' an' po'es' coach at Mount Vernon is a heap finer'n dat ar one o' Marse F'yarfax. An' when me an' Marse George gits Mount Vernon, arter Marse Laurence done daid, we-all is gwine ter have a coach lined wid white satin, same like the Earl o' F'yarfax's bes' weskit, an' de harness o' red morocky, an' solid gol' tires to de wheels. You heah me, niggers? And Marse George, he say--"
"You are the most unconscionable liar I ever knew!" shouted George, in a passion, suddenly appearing behind Billy; "and if ever I hear of your talking about what will happen at Mount Vernon, or even daring to say that it may be mine, I will make you sorry for it, as I am alive."
George was in such a rage that he picked up a hair-brush off the chest of drawers and shied it at Billy, who dodged, and the brush went to smash on the brick hearth. At this the unregenerate Billy burst into a subdued guffaw, and looking into George's angry eyes, chuckled,
"Hi, Marse George, you done bus' yo' ma's h'yar-bresh!" Which showed how much impression "Marse George's" wrath made on Billy.
"I went to the animals' fair, The birds and beasts were there"--
at any rate it was the animals' hospital, and there were enough birds and beasts for a fair. The hospital is in charge of the New York College of Veterinary Surgeons, and that, if you please, is part of the University of New York; so if you wanted to send your dickey-bird there for the pip, he would be in a manner under the sheltering wing of all the D.D.s and LL.D.s that shine as the regents of that noble institution.
New York people are apt to call this the dog hospital, but that must be because they take more interest in the dogs than in its other inmates, for here you can get medical treatment for any living thing except a human being. Horses, cows, dogs, and cats form the steady bulk of its beneficiaries, but elephants and white mice are among them too.