The ladies ain't what they used to be.

They look on a man now pretty much as a meal-ticket.

I guess if a feller chewed off another feller's ear in Mount Hope he'd never hear the last of it!" As neither Mrs.Shrimplin nor Custer questioned this point, Mr.
Shrimplin reverted to his narrative.
"I started in to tell you how I put Murphy out of business, didn't I, son?
The facts brought out by the coroner's jury," embarking on what he conceived to be a bit of happy and elaborate realism, "was that I'd shot him in self-defense after he'd drawed a gun on me.

He had heard I was at Fort Worth--not that I was looking for trouble, which I never done; but I never turned it down when any one was at pains to fetch it to me; I was always willing they should leave it with me for to have a merry time.

Murphy heard I'd said if he'd come to Fort Worth I'd take him home and make a pet of him; and he'd sent back word that he was looking for a man with two ears to play with; and I'd said mine was on loose and for him to come and pull 'em off.