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THE ORIGINAL PAINTER. 



As I was lounging one fair and very warm morning on the Levee at 

 New Orleans, I chanced to observe a gentleman, whose dress and other 

 accompaniments greatly attracted my attention. I wheeled about, and 

 followed him for a short space, when, judging by every thing about him 

 that he was a true original, I accosted him. 



But here, kind reader, let me give you some idea of his exterior. 

 His head was covered by a straw hat, the brim of which might cope with 

 those worn by the fair sex in 1830 ; his neck was exposed to the wea- 

 ther ; the broad frill of a shirt, then fashionable, flapped about his breast, 

 whilst an extraordinary coUar, carefully arranged, fell over the top of his 

 coat. The latter was of a light green colour, harmonizing well with a 

 pair of flowing yellow nankeen trowsers, and a pink waistcoat, from the 

 bosom of which, amidst a large bunch of the splendid flowers of the 

 Magnolia, protruded part of a young alligator, which seemed more 

 anxious to glide through the muddy waters of some retired swamp, than 

 to spend its life swinging to and fro among folds of the finest lawn. The 

 gentleman held in one hand a cage full of richly-plumed Nonpareils, 

 whilst in the other he sported a silk umbrella, on which I could plainly read 

 *' Stolen from /," these words being painted in large white characters. 

 He walked as if conscious of his own importance, that is, with a good 

 .deal of pomposity, singing " My love is but a lassie yet," and that 

 with such thorough imitation of the Scotch emphasis, that had not his 

 physiognomy brought to my mind a denial of his being from " within a 

 mile of Edinbvu-gh," I should have put him down in my journal for a 

 true Scot. But no : — ^his tournure, nay, the very shape of his visage, 

 pronounced him an American, from the farthest parts of our eastern At- 

 lantic shores. 



All this raised my curiosity to such a height, that I accosted him 

 with " Pray, Sir, will you allow me to examine the birds you have in 

 that cage .?" The gentleman stopped, straightened his body, almost 

 closed his left eye, then spread his legs apart, and, with a look altogether 

 quizzical, answered, " Birds, Sir, did you say birds .?■" I nodded, and 

 he continued, '' What the devil do you know about birds. Sir .?"" 



Reader, this answer brought a blush into my face. I felt as if caught 



