"A bear always goes down a tree starn foremost. He is a cunning
critter; he knows 'tain't safe to carry a heavy load over his head,
and his rump is so heavy, he don't like to trust it over his'n, for
fear it might take a lurch, and carry him heels over head, to the
ground; so he lets his starn down first, and his head arter. I wish
the Bluenoses would find as good an excuse in their rumps for running
backwards as he has. But the bear 'ciphers;' he knows how many pounds
his hams weigh, and he 'calculates' if he carried them up in the air,
they might be top heavy for him.
"If we had this Province we'd go to work and 'cipher' right off.
Halifax is nothing without a river or back country; add nothing to
nothing, and I guess you have nothing still--add a railroad to the
Bay of Fundy, and how much do you git? That requires ciphering--it
will cost three hundred thousand dollars or seventy-five thousand
pounds your money--add for notions omitted in the addition column,
one third, and it makes even money--one hundred thousand pounds.
Interest at five per cent, five thousand pounds a year. Now turn over
the slate and count up freight. I make it upwards of twenty-five
thousand pounds a year. If I had you at the desk, I'd show you a bill
of items.
"Now comes 'subtraction'; deduct cost of engines, wear and tear, and
expenses, and what not, and reduce it for shortness down to five
thousand pounds a year, the amount of interest.
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