tioned in the Diary) in the
United States Army who is a remarkable shot with a rifle. He was
raised, I believe, in Vermont. His fame was so considerable through the
state, that even the animals were aware of it. He went out one morning
with his rifle, and spying a racoon upon the upper branches of a high
tree, brought his gun up to his shoulder; when the racoon perceiving it,
raised his paw for a parley. `I beg your pardon, mister,' said the
racoon, very politely; `but may I ask you if your name is
Scott?'--`Yes,' replied the captain.--`_Martin_ Scott?' continued the
racoon--`Yes,' replied the captain--`_Captain_ Martin Scott?' still
continued the animal.--`Yes,' replied the captain, `Captain Martin
Scott?'--`Oh! then,' says the animal, `I may just as well come down, for
I'm a _gone 'coon_.'"

But one of the strangest perversions of the meaning of a word which I
ever heard of is in Kentucky, where sometimes the word _nasty_ is used
for _nice_. For instance: at a rustic dance in that state a Kentuckian
said to an acquaintance of mine, in reply to his asking the name of a
very fine girl, "That's my sister, stranger; and I flatter myself that
she shows the _nastiest_ ankle in all Kentuck"--_Unde derivatur_, from
the constant rifle-practice in that state, a good shot or a pretty shot
is termed also a nasty shot, because it would make a _nasty_ wound:
_ergo_, a nice or pretty ankle becomes a _nasty_ one.

The term for all baggage, especially in the south or west, is "plunder."
This has been derived from the buccaneers, who for so long a time
infested the bayores and creeks near the mouth of the Mississippi, and
whose luggage was probably very correctly so designated.

I must not omit a specimen of American criticism.

"Well, Abel, what d'ye think of our native genus, Mister Forrest?"

"Well, I don't go much to theatricals, that's a fact; but I do think _he
piled the agony up a little too high_ in that last scene."

The gamblers on the Mississippi use a very refined phrase for
"cheating"--"playing the advantages over him."

But, as may be supposed, the principal terms used are those which are
borrowed from trade and commerce.

The rest, or remainder, is usually termed the balance.

"Put some of those apples into a dish, and the _balance_ into the
storeroom."

When a person has made a mistake, or is out in his calculation, they
say, "You missed a figure that time."

In a skirmish last war, the fire from the B