[The following may not be strictly true, but it well illustrates that there
is always a lower depth in misfortune, and--that Western roads are often
somewhat muddy.]
Some years ago, when riding along one of the almost impassable roads in the
far West, I observed a dark-looking object lying in the middle of the road,
and my natural curiosity impelled me to dismount and examine it. It proved
to be a hat, somewhat muddy and dilapidated, but emphatically a hat. On
lifting it up, to my surprise I found that it covered a head--a human
head--which protruded sufficiently out of the mud to be recognizable as
such. I ventured to address the evidently wide-awake head, and remarked
that it seemed to be in a pretty bad sort of a fix.
"Wa'al, yes!" the lips replied; "you're about right thar, stranger; _but
then I ain't anyway near as bad off as the horse that's under me_!"