_unless he engages for one or more years_. I think it's quite fair,
when you consider that he has engaged Henry just when there is very
little to be done, and he has no security that he (Henry) won't leave
him when the spring comes, or perhaps before it. Of course, he
probably won't do so, but you can't expect the man to count upon that.
Thus the _probability_ is that Henry will get only his board and
lodging during the greater part of the winter; or, to use the man's
own words, "I'll do the best I can; if I find he's worth more I'll
give it him, anyway he's sure of something in the spring." I like the
farmer's wife very much, she must have been very pretty once, though
of course, most of it has worn off now. She is very quiet, and very
good tempered looking, and I think she will take a fancy to Henry.
They have got one child, a girl of about eight or nine, who it will
probably be Henry's duty to drive in school every morning. I think
this settles the family. Henry will no doubt give you a lengthy
description of the house, so I will refrain from expatiating on its
merits. He will have a room to himself, which, in my opinion, is
sufficient reason for clinching the bargain. You were wanting to know
about the prices of things here as compared with the old country, as I
have already begun to call it. Some son-of-a-gun has been playing the
fool with my pen, and all the ink this place can raise is a
concentrated solution in the bottom of a stone bottle. Well, I think I
have told you all that I know at present, though I can't be sure. You
see I have to write at odd times, and in odd places, and so I very
often forget what I have said or have not said. Railway travelling is
certainly dearer for short distances, but undoubtedly cheaper for long
ones; that is, the tickets are issued at a reduced mileage, but it
does not seem cheaper, and if time is money it is certainly not so. I
don't know anything about a three or four day's journey. The return
fare from Montreal to Sherbrooke, 102 miles, first-class, is $5 60c.