The Stranger and the Statesman Quotes

“When nature called, the men would relieve themselves in a pot at the sideboard without interrupting their conversation, an English custom instituted not so much for convenience as to preempt any excuse for the weak of stomach or head to sneak out before the drinking was finished.”
― Nina Burleigh, The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America's Greatest Museum

“Ducking ponds where dogs chased ducks were popular amusements at parks, and sometimes, to increase the fun, an owl would be tied to the duck’s back, which caused it to dive in terror until one or both of the birds died.”
― Nina Burleigh, The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America's Greatest Museum