iner measures lace, by the bendin'
down of the forefinger--cuss 'em! Turn the tables on 'em. Report on
_them_, measure _them_, but take care to keep your feet though, don't be
caught trippin', don't make no mistakes.

"Then we'll go to the Lords' House--I don't mean to meetin' house,
though we must go there too, and hear Me Neil and Chalmers, and them
sort o' cattle; but I mean the house where the nobles meet, pick out
the big bugs, and see what sort o' stuff they are made of. Let's take
minister with us--he is a great judge of these things. I should like you
to hear his opinion; he knows every thin' a'most, though the ways of the
world bother him a little sometimes; but for valyin' a man, or stating
principles, or talkin' politics, there ain't no man equal to him,
hardly. He is a book, that's a fact; it's all there what you want; all
you've got to do is to cut the leaves. Name the word in the index, he'll
turn to the page, and give you day, date, and fact, for it. There is no
mistake in him.

"That cussed provokin' visit of yours to Scotland will shove them things
into the next book, I'm afeered. But it don't signify nothin'; you can't
cram all into one, and we hante only broke the crust yet, and p'rhaps
it's as well to look afore you leap too, or you might make as big a fool
of yourself, as some of the Britishers have a-writin' about us and the
provinces. Oh yes, it's a great advantage havin' minister with you.
He'll fell the big stiff trees for you; and I'm the boy for the
saplin's, I've got the eye and the stroke for them. They spring so
confoundedly under the axe, does second growth and underwood, it's
dangerous work, but I've got the sleight o' hand for that, and we'll
make a clean field of it.

"Then come and survey; take your compass and chain to the ground and
measure, and lay that off--branch and bark the spars for snakin' off the
ground; cord up the fire-wood, tie up the hoop poles, and then burn off
the trash and rubbish. Do it workman-like. Take your time to it as if
you was workin' by the day. Don't hurry, like job work; don't slobber it
over, and leave half-burnt trees and logs strewed about the surface, but
make smack smooth work. Do that, Squire, do it well, and that is, only
half as good as you can, if you choose, and then--"

"And then," said I, "I make no doubt you will have great pleasure '_in
throwin' the Lavender again_."

CHAPTER X. AIMING HIGH.

"What do you intend to do, Squire, wi