“Shucks, it ain't calling you anything. It's only saying, do you know how to talk French?”

“Well, den, why couldn't he say it?”

“Why, he is a-saying it. That's a Frenchman's way of saying it.”

“Well, it's a blame ridicklous way, en I doan' want to hear no mo' 'bout it. Dey ain' no sense in it.”

“Looky here, Jim; does a cat talk like we do?”

“No, a cat don't.”

“Well, does a cow?”

“No, a cow don't, nuther.”

“Does a cat talk like a cow, or a cow talk like a cat?”

“No, dey don't.”

“It's natural and right for 'em to talk different from each other, ain't it?”

“Course.”

“And ain't it natural and right for a cat and a cow to talk different from us?”

“Why, mos' sholy it is.”

“Well, then, why ain't it natural and right for a frenchman to talk different from us? You answer me that.”

“Is a cat a man, Huck?”

“No.”

“Well, den, dey ain't no sense in a cat talkin' like a man. Is a cow a man? – er is a cow a cat?”

“No, she ain't either of them.”

“Well, den, she ain't got no business to talk like either one er the yuther of 'em. Is a Frenchman a man?”

“Yes.”

“Well, den! Dad blame it, why doan' he talk like a man? You answer me dat!”

I see it warn't no use wasting words – you can't learn a nigger to argue. So I quit.