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Show 1836- 1837] Flagg's Far West 235 " Coot morning, shur! A pleashant tay, shur! Coome in, shur!" was the hospitable greeting of mine host, or rather of the major domo of the little brick hostelrie of Hillsborough as I drove up to the bar- room entrance. He was a comical- looking, bottle- shaped little personage, with a jolly red nose, all the brighter, doubtless, for certain goodly potations of his own goodly admixtures; with a brief brace of legs, inserted into a pair of inexpressibles h la Turque, a world too big, and a white capote a world too little, to complete the Sunday toilet. He could boast, moreover, that amazing lubricity of speech, and that oili-ness of tongue wherewith sinful publicans have ever been prone to beguile unwary wayfarers, taking in travellers, forsooth! Before I was fully aware of the change in my circumstances, I found myself quietly dispossessed of horse and equipments, and placing my foot across the threshold. The fleshy little Dutchman, though now secure in his capture, proceeded to redouble his assiduities. " Anything to trink, shur? Plack your poots, shur? shave your face, shur? 9' and a host of farther interrogatories, which I at length contrived to cut short with, " Show me a chamber, sir!" The Presbyterian Church, at which I attended worship, is a neat little edifice of brick, in modern style, but not completed. The walls remained unconscious of plaster; the orchestra, a naked scaffolding; the pulpit, a box of rough boards; and, [ 218] more picturesque than all, in lieu of pews, slips, or any such thing, a few coarse slabs of all forms and fashions, supported on remnants of timber and plank, occupied the open area for seats. And marvellously comfortless are such seats, to my certain experience. In the evening I attended the " Luteran Church," as my major domo styled it, at the special instance of one of its worthy members. This house of worship is designed for a large |