Now I haven't the heart to cut the
leaves off when a customer asks me."
His idea of his own vegetable-gardening at Boscobel, his Peekskill
home, was very amusing. One day Edward was having a hurried dinner,
preparatory to catching the New York train. Mr. Beecher sat beside the
boy, telling him of some things he wished done in Brooklyn.
"No, I thank you," said Edward, as the maid offered him some potatoes.
"Look here, young man," said Mr. Beecher, "don't pass those potatoes so
lightly. They're of my own raising--and I reckon they cost me about a
dollar a piece," he added with a twinkle in his eye.
He was an education in so many ways! One instance taught Edward the
great danger of passionate speech that might unconsciously wound; and
the manliness of instant recognition of the error. Swayed by an
occasion, or by the responsiveness of an audience, Mr. Beecher would
sometimes say something which was not meant as it sounded. One
evening, at a great political meeting at Cooper Union, Mr. Beecher was
at his brightest and wittiest.
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