'Sir,' returned Stephen, with the quiet confidence of absolute certainty, 'if yo was t' tak a hundred Slackbridges - aw as there is, and aw the number ten times towd - an' was t' sew 'em up in separate sacks, an' sink 'em in the deepest ocean as were made ere ever dry land coom to be, yo'd leave the muddle just wheer 'tis.
I ha no favour for 'em - I ha no reason to favour 'em - but 'tis hopeless and useless to dream o' takin them fro their trade, 'stead o' takin their trade fro them!
"To think o' these cloths as I spun myself," she went on, lifting things out and turning them over with an excitement all the more strange and piteous because the stout blond woman was usually so passive,--if she had been ruffled before, it was at the surface merely,--"and Job Haxey wove 'em, and brought the piece home on his back, as I remember standing at the door and seeing him come, before I ever thought o' marrying your father!
But I know they'll none of 'em take my chany," she added, turning toward the cups and saucers, "for they all found fault with 'em when I bought 'em, 'cause o' the small gold sprig all over 'em, between the flowers.
Then you see that great thing there like a great big rusty nail sticking up higher than all the houses, and that one yonder, and that, and how something's fell in between
'em among the houses.
'em a two-oss wan, more like a hearse nor a coach--Regulator-- comes from Oxford.
"I'm no reader o' the paper myself," he observed to-night, as he filled his pipe, "though I might read it fast enough if I liked, for there's Miss Lyddy has
'em and 's done with
'em i' no time.
Some are for cutting long ribs--I'm for cutting
'em short myself; but I don't quarrel with
'em.
There was three ministers and three deacons on the committee, and it was only natural they should choose a serious piece; hers was too lively to suit
'em."
Tha's courtin' some bold young madam somewhere tellin' thy lies to her about bein' th' finest cock robin on Missel Moor an' ready to fight all th' rest of
'em."
I want to be able to look at a hilltop an' know it's my land, and know it's my land down the other side an' up the next hilltop, an' know that over beyond that, down alongside some creek, my mares are most likely grazin', an' their little colts grazin' with
'em or kickin' up their heels.
Just show
'em how many watches, feathers, and trinkets, one's weight in gold would buy, and that alters the case, I reckon."