ork," answered Daggett, dropping his eyes from the more
distant and gorgeous views of the drifting ice-mountains, to the rocky
shore, that was still frequented by thousands of seals, some of the
largest of which might be seen, even from that elevation, waddling about;
"ay, a poor man must work, Sundays or no Sundays; and he who would make
his hay, must do it while the sun shines. I like meetin'-goin' at the
right place, and sealin' when sealin' ought to be done. This day is lost,
I fear, and I hope we shall not have reason to regret it."

Stimson did not abandon what he conceived to be his duty, but answered
this cold, worldly spirit in the best manner his uncultivated speech
enabled him to do. But his words were thrown away on Daggett. The lust of
gold was strong within him; and while that has full dominion over the
heart, it is vain to expect that any purely spiritual fruits will ripen
there. Daggett was an instance of what, we fear, many thousands resembling
him might be found, up and down the land, of a man energetic by
temperament, industrious by habit, and even moderate in his views, but
whose whole existence is concentrated in the accumulation of property.
Born poor, and in a state of society in which no one other generally
recognised mode of distinction is so universally acknowledged as that of
the possession of money, it is not surprising that a man of his native
disposition should early bend all his faculties to this one great object.
He was not a miser, Irke Deacon Pratt, for he could spend freely, on
occasion, and perfectly understood the necessity of making liberal outfits
to insure ample returns; but he lived for little else than for gain. What
such a man might have become, under more favourable auspices, and with
different desires instilled into his youthful mind, it is not easy to say;
it is only certain that, as he was, the steel-trap is not quicker to
spring at the touch, than he was to arouse all his manifold energies at
the hopes or promise of profit. As his whole life had been passed in one
calling, it was but natural that his thoughts should most easily revert to
the returns that calling had so often given. He never dreamed of
speculations, knew nothing of stocks, had no concern with manufactures in
cotton or wool, nor had any other notion of wealth than the possession of
a good farm on the Vineyard, a reasonable amount of money "at use,"
certain interests in coasters, whalers, and sealers, and a suf