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CROWD
ROBERT LOWELL
so bright King George will see his face
flash like a guinea on the toe.
Health to the rattlesnake!
TAVERN KEEPER
(Turning to
ROBIN)
ROBIN
You boys
are from the country, I presume.
I envy you, you're seeing Boston
for the first time. Fine town, there's lots
to hold you, English monuments,
docks, houses, and a fleet of tea-ships
begging for buyers. I trust you'll stay;
nobody ever leaves this city.
We come from Deerfield.
TAVERN KEEPER
ROBIN
BARBER
ROBIN
Then you'll stay;
no Indians scalp us in our beds,
our only scalpers are these men here.
Our massacre was eighty years
ago. We're not frontiersmen now,
we've other things to talk about.
He has other things to talk about.
This boy's a gentleman. He
is
no redskin in a coonskin cap.
I'm on our village council. I've
read Plutarch.
TAVERN KEEPER
Boy
You are an ancient Roman.
You'll find you like our commonwealth.
I crave the honor of your custom.
I've whiskey, gin and rum and beer,
and a spruce beer for your brother.
I want a real beer.
(General laughter
)