Fielding No. 2."

"Did you ever see a horse or an ox mow an acre of grass or barley?"
retorted William dryly.

"Don't brag," replied the other; "they'll eat all you can mow and
never say a word about it."

This repartee was so suited to their rustic idea of wit, that
Robinson's antagonists laughed heartily, except George.

"What is the matter with him?" said Robinson, sotto voce,
indicating George.

"Oh! he is cross, never mind him," replied Susan ostentatiously loud.
George winced, but never spoke back to her.

Robinson then proceeded to disabuse the rural mind of the notion that
gold is to be got without hard toil, even in California. He told them
how the miners' shirts were wet through and through in the struggle
for gold; he told them how the little boys demanded a dollar apiece
for washing these same garments; and how the miners to escape this
extortion sent their linen to China in ships on Monday morning, and
China sent them back on Saturday, only it was Saturday six weeks.

Next Mr. Robinson proceeded to draw a parallel between England and
various nations on the other side of the Atlantic, not at all
complimentary to his island home; above all, he was eloquent on the
superior dignity of labor in new countries.