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Show What Quasi Means. The death of John K. Cowcn recalls a j humorous address which he made at a dinner in this city In- 180S. say? the Baltimore Bal-timore Sun. Nearly all present had been j associated In the reform movements of 1803 and 1807, and many of them j prided themselves on being independent Democrats. The hour was quite late, and Mr. Couen had already ppoken once. When tallvi on a s-econd time he said the gathering might be called a quasi Democratic one. "I suppose," he rcdd. "some of you lv&ard the- definition of quasi which, a certain Indiana Justice of the Peacj once gave. The squire had a high opinion' opin-ion' of his Judgment and attainments. Upon one occasion a man was arraigned before the squire on the charge- of stealing steal-ing chickens. The attorney for the defendant de-fendant in the course of liis argument, referred to the thief as a quasi criminal. Turning to the squire ho s-aid: " 'Of course, I shall not Insult your Honor's knowledge of Latin1 to explain the meaning- of that word.' "At the conclusion) of that argument the squire Intimated that he was conversant con-versant with the language of the- Ho-mans. Ho-mans. sayln that quasi meant 'sorter or sorter not. a little more sorter not than sorter.' " Mr. Cowen's- humor in this definition) could not possibly liave been lost on. his hearers, everyone) of whom had voted the Republican ticket In the two campaigns cam-paigns referred to. |