rrangements producing with us
solemnity, they would produce nothing but laughter, and the greatest
possible irregularity."

I was present at an election in the interior of the state. The office was
that of representative in the state legislature, and the candidates were a
hatter and a saddler; the former was also a militia major, and a Methodist
preacher, of the Percival and Gordon school, who eschewed the devil and
all the backsliding abominations of the flesh, as in duty bound. Sundry
"stump orations" were delivered on the occasion, for the enlightenment of
the electors; and towards the close of the proceedings, by way of an
appropriate finale, the aforesaid triune-citizen and another gentleman,
had a gouging scrape on the hustings. The major in this contest proved
himself to be a true Kentuckian; that is, half a horse, and half an
alligator; which contributed not a little to ensure his return. After the
election, I was conversing with one of the most violent opponents of the
successful candidate, and remarked to him, that I supposed he would rally
his forces at the next election to put out the major: he replied, "I can't
tell that!" I said, "why? will you not oppose him?" "Oh!" he says, "for
that matter, he may do his duty pretty well." "And do you mean to say,"
continued I, "that if he should do so, you will give him no opposition?"
He looked at me, as if he did not clearly comprehend, and said, "Why, I
guess not."

The boatmen of the Ohio and Mississippi are the most riotous and lawless
set of people in America, and the least inclined to submit to the
constituted authorities. At Cincinnati I saw one of those persons
arrested, on the wharf, for debt. He seemed little inclined to submit; as,
could he contrive to escape to the opposite shore, he was safe. He called
upon his companions in the flat-boat, who came instantly to his
assistance, and were apparently ready to rescue him from the clutches of
this trans-Atlantic bum-bailiff. The constable instantly pulled out--not a
pistol, but a small piece of paper, and said, "I take him in the name of
the States." The messmates of this unfortunate navigator looked at him for
some time, and then one of them said drily, "I guess you must go with the
constable." Subsequently, at New York, one evening returning to my hotel,
I heard a row in a tavern, and wishing to see the process of capturing
refractory citizens, I entered with some other persons. The constable was
there unsup