'
"Darn it all," said the Clockmaker, rising with great animation,
clinching his fist, and extending his arm, "darn it all, it
fairly makes my dander rise, to see the nasty idle, loungin'
good-for-nothin', do-little critters; they ain't fit to tend a
bear-trap, I vow. They ought to be quilted round and round a room,
like a lady's lap-dog, the matter of two hours a day, to keep them
from dyin' of apoplexy."
"Hush, hush!" said I, "Mr. Slick, you forget."
"Well," said he, resuming his usual composure, "well, it's enough to
make one vexed though, I declare--isn't it?"
Mr. Slick has often alluded to this subject, and always in a most
decided manner. I am inclined to think he is right. Mr. Howe's papers
on the railroad I read till I came to his calculations, but I never
could read figures, "I can't cipher," and there I paused; it was a
barrier: I retreated a few paces, took a running leap, and cleared
the whole of them. Mr. Slick says he has UNDER and not OVER rated its
advantages. He appears to be such a shrewd, observing, intelligent
man, and so perfectly at home on these subjects, that I confess I
have more faith in this humble but eccentric Clockmaker, than in any
other man I have met with in this Province. I therefore pronounce
"there will be a railroad."
No. XIV
Sayings and Doings in Cumberland.
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