Vhat ist mein house ist mein house,
ant dey shall not so moch vittles."

"By letting 'em so much vittles there, they so much vittles in the
kitchen; so you see there is policy in having your under-pinnin' knocked
away sometimes, if it's done by the right sort of folks."

"You're a stranger in these parts, friend?" observed Hubbard,
complacently, for by this time his "whittling-piece" was reduced to a
shape, and he could go on reducing it, according to some law of the art
of whittling, with which I am not acquainted. "We are not so particular
in such matters as in some of your countries in the old world."

"Ja--das I can see. But does not woot ant column cost money in America,
someding?"

"To be sure it does. There is not a man in the country who would
undertake to replace that pillar with a new one, paint and all, for less
than ten dollars."

This was an opening for a discussion on the probable cost of putting a
new pillar into the place of the one that was injured. Opinions
differed, and quite a dozen spoke on the subject; some placing the
expense as high as fifteen dollars, and others bringing it down as low
as five. I was struck with the quiet and self-possession with which each
man delivered his opinion, as well as with the language used. The
accent was uniformly provincial, that of Hubbard included, having a
strong and unpleasant taint of the dialect of New England in it; and
some of the expressions savoured a little of the stilts of the
newspapers; but, on the whole, the language was sufficiently accurate
and surprisingly good, considering the class in life of the speakers.
The conjectures, too, manifested great shrewdness and familiarity with
practical things, as well as, in a few instances, some reading. Hall,
however, actually surprised me. He spoke with a precision and knowledge
of mechanics that would have done credit to a scholar, and with a
simplicity that added to the influence of what he said. Some casual
remark induced me to put in--"Vell, I might s'pose an Injin voult cut so
das column, but I might not s'pose a vhite man could." This opinion gave
the discourse a direction towards anti-rentism, and in a few minutes it
caught all the attention of my uncle Ro and myself.

"This business is going ahead after all!" observed Hubbard, evasively,
after others had had their say.

"More's the pity," put in Hall. "It might have been put an end to in a
month, at any time, and ought to be put an end to in a