e women."

"That's so," said Mr. P. "Good-bye, BENJAMIN. Any news from Dominica?"

"None at all," said the other, "and I don't care if there never is. I am
opposed to that annexation scheme now."

"Sold your claims?" said Mr. P. The incognito winked and departed.

That evening at supper Mr. P. remarked that his biscuits were rather
hard, and he blandly requested a waiter to take one of them outside and
crack it. The elder PEYTON, who runs the hotel, overheard Mr. P.'s
remark, and stepping up to him, said:

"Sir, you should not be so particular about your food. What you pay me,
while you stay at my place, is my charge for the water you drink. The
food and lodging I throw in, gratis."

Mr. P. arose.

"Mr. PEYTON," said he, "when I was quite a little boy, my father, making
the tour of America, brought me here, and I distinctly remember your
making that remark to him. Since then many of my friends have visited
the White Sulphur, and you invariably made the same remark to them. Is
there no way to escape the venerable joke?"

The gentle PEYTON made no answer, but walked away, and after supper, one
of the boarders took Mr. P. aside and urged him to excuse their host, as
he was obliged to make the joke in question to every guest. The
obligation was in his lease.

So the matter blew over.

Reflecting, however, that if he had to pay so much for the water, that
he had better drink a little, Mr. P. went down to the spring to see what
could be done. On the way, he met Uncle AARON, formerly one of
WASHINGTON'S body-servants. The venerable patriarch touched his hat, and
Mr. P., hoping from such great age to gain a little wisdom, propounded
the following questions:

"Uncle, is this water good for the bile?"

"Oh, lor! no, mah'sr! Dat dar water 'ud jis spile anything you biled in
it. Make it taste of rotten eggs, for all the world, sir! 'Deed it
would.'

"But what I want to know," said Mr. P., "is why the people drink it."

"Lor' bless you, mah'sr! Dis here chile kin tell you dat. Ye see de
gem'men from de Norf dey drinks it bekase they eat so much cold wheat
bread. Allers makes 'em sick, sir."

"And why do the Southerners drink it?"

"Wal, mah'sr, you see dey eats so much hot wheat bread, and it don't
agree wid 'em, no how."

"But how about the colored people? I have seen them drinking it,
frequently," said Mr. P.

"Oh, lor, mah'sr, how you is a askin' questions! Don't you know dat de
colored folks hab to drink