"Toiling in the bush still, eh?"
"Just in the same place."
"And the wife and children?"
"Hearty. Some half-dozen have been added to the flock since you were
our way."
"So much the better - so much the better. The more the merrier,
Mr. S - -; children are riches in this country."
"I know not how that may be; I find it hard to clothe and feed
mine."
"Wait till they grow up; they will be brave helps to you then. The
price of labour - the price of labour, Mr. S - -, is the destruction
of the farmer."
"It does not seem to trouble you much, Woodruff," said my brother,
glancing round the well-furnished apartment.
"My son and S - - do it all," cried the old man. "Of course the
girls help in busy times, and take care of the dairy, and we hire
occasionally; but small as the sum is which is expended in wages
during seed-time and harvest, I feel it, I can tell you."
"You are married again, Woodruff?"
"No, sir," said the farmer, with a peculiar smile; "not yet;"
which seemed to imply the probability of such an event. "That tall
gal is my eldest daughter; she manages the house, and an excellent
housekeeper she is. But I cannot keep her for ever." With a knowing
wink, "Gals will think of getting married, and seldom consult the
wishes of their parents upon the subject when once they have taken
the notion into their heads.
