"
"No? Why that's well. How is the markets, sir? Are bread
stuffs up?"
"I a'nt just capable to say."
"A deal of money's made by just looking after the article at the
fountain's head."
"You may say that."
"Do you look to be making great dealings in produce up the
country?"
"Why that, I expect, is difficult to know."
"I calculate you'll find the markets changeable these times?"
"No markets ben't very often without changing."
"Why, that's right down true. What may be your biggest article
of produce?"
"I calculate, generally, that's the biggest, as I makes most by."
"You may say that. But what do you chiefly call your most
particular branch?"
"Why, that's what I can't justly say."
And so they went on, without advancing or giving an inch, 'till I
was weary of listening; but I left them still at it, when I
stepped out to resume my station on a trunk at the bow of the
boat, where I scribbled in my note-book this specimen of Yankee
conversation.
The Erie canal has cut through much solid rock, and we often
passed between magnificent cliffs. The little falls of the
Mohawk form a lovely scene; the rocks over which the river runs
are most fantastic in form. The fall continues nearly a mile,
and a beautiful village, called the Little Falls, overhangs it.
As many locks occur at this point, we quitted the boat, that we
might the better enjoy the scenery, which is of the widest
description. Several other passengers did so likewise, and I was
much amused by one of our Yankees, who very civilly accompanied
our party, pointing out to me the wild state of the country, and
apologizing for it, by saying, that the property all round
thereabouts had been owned by an Englishman; "and you'll excuse
me, ma'am, but when the English gets a spot of wild ground like
this here, they have no notions about it like us; but the
Englishman have sold it, and if you was to see it five years
hence, you would not know it again; I'll engage there will be by
that, half a score elegant factories--'tis a true shame to let
such a privilege of water lie idle.
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