I merely say that there may be times when a man, having stood a great deal and thought it over calmly, is justified in taking the law into his own hands--always supposing he can do it decently, quietly, and without scandal.

The epidemic of waits broke out early in December, and every other night or so these torments came in the still hours and burst into song beneath my windows.

They made me nervous.

I was more wretched on the nights they did not come than on the nights they came; for I had begun to listen for them, and was never sure they had gone into another locality before four o'clock in the morning.

As for their songs, they were more like music-hall ditties than Christmas carols.