AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 7
spirited fellows, who always went into battle sing¬
ing, right behind the army, and always went out
a-whooping, right ahead of it.
This is a scathing rebuke to old dead Froissart's
poor witticism, that our family tree never had but
one limb to it, and that that one stuck out at right
angles, and bore fruit winter and summer.
Early in the fifteenth century we have Beau
Twain, called " the Scholar." He wrote a beautiful
hand. And he could imitate anybody's hand
so closely that it was enough to make a person
laugh his head off to see it. He had infinite
sport with his talent. But by-and-by he took a
contract to break stone for a road, and the rough¬
ness of the work spoiled his hand. Still, he enjoyed
life all the time he was in the stone business, which
with inconsiderable intervals, was some forty-two
years. In fact, he died in harness. During all
those long years he gave such satisfaction that he
never was through with one contract a week till
government gave him another. He was a perfect
pet. And he was always a favourite with his
fellow-artists, and was a conspicuous member of
their benevolent secret society, called the Chain
Gang. He always wore his hair short, had a pre¬
ference for striped clothes, and died lamented by
the government. He was a sore loss to his country,
for he was so regular.
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