Before he went, he offered a wager of "a drink of rum to
a thaw of tobacco" that he did not succeed. When he came back, there was
a flush in his face and a sparkle in his eye that did not look like
failure; but I know not what was the result. He took a glass of wine
with the brother-in-law,--a grave, thin, frosty-haired, shrewd-looking
yeoman, in his shirt-sleeves,--then ordered his horses, paid his bill,
and drove off, accompanied still by the same yeoman, perhaps to get the
permission of the other two selectmen. If he does not get a license
here, he will try at Cheshire.
A fellow appears with a pink guard-chain and two breast-pins in his
shirt,--one a masonic one of gold, with compass and square, and the other
of colored glass, set in filigree brass,--and the shirt a soiled one.
A tendency to obesity is more common in this part of the country than I
have noticed it elsewhere.
August 19th.--I drove with Orrin S------ last evening to an old farmer's
house to get some chickens. Entering the kitchen, I observed a fireplace
with rough stone jambs and back, and a marble hearth, cracked, and
otherwise contrasting a roughness of workmanship with the value of the
material.
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