In
places it is made so straight that you can see several miles of it
before you, which produces an appearance of interminable length,
while the stunted growth of the spruce and birch trees bespeaks a
cold, thin soil, and invests the scene with a melancholy and sterile
aspect. Here and there occurs a little valley, with its meandering
stream, and verdant and fertile interval, which, though possessing
nothing peculiar to distinguish it from many others of the same kind,
strikes the traveller as superior to them all, from the contrast to
the surrounding country. One of these secluded spots attracted my
attention, from the number and neatness of the buildings, which its
proprietor, a tanner and currier, had erected for the purposes of his
trade. Mr. Slick said he knew him, and he guessed it was a pity he
couldn't keep his wife in as good order as he did his factory.
"They don't hitch their horses together well at all. He is properly
hen-pecked," said he; "he is afeerd to call his soul his own, and he
leads the life of a dog; you never seed the beat of it, I vow. Did
you ever see a rooster hatch a brood of chickens?"
"No," said I, "not that I can recollect."
"Well then I have," said he, "and if he don't look like a fool all
the time he is a-settin' on the eggs, it's a pity; no soul could help
larfin' to see him.
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