And the workman early begins on his career of toil. He
has never had his fill of holidays in the past, and his prospect of
holidays in the future is both distant and uncertain. In the
circumstances, it would require a high degree of virtue not to snatch
alleviations for the moment.
There were many good talkers on the ship; and I believe good talking
of a certain sort is a common accomplishment among working men.
Where books are comparatively scarce, a greater amount of information
will be given and received by word of mouth; and this tends to
produce good talkers, and, what is no less needful for conversation,
good listeners. They could all tell a story with effect. I am
sometimes tempted to think that the less literary class show always
better in narration; they have so much more patience with detail, are
so much less hurried to reach the points, and preserve so much juster
a proportion among the facts. At the same time their talk is dry;
they pursue a topic ploddingly, have not an agile fancy, do not throw
sudden lights from unexpected quarters, and when the talk is over
they often leave the matter where it was.
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