His conversation, too, soon betrayed a leaning to his personal interests, instead of being of that pure and elevated cast which should characterize the language of a statesman.

He laid down the position, pretty dogmatically, that legislation, after all, was work; that "the laborer was worthy of his hire"; and that, for his part, he felt no great disposition to go through the vexation and trouble of helping to make laws, unless he could see, with a reasonable certainty, that something was to be got by it.

He thought Leaplow had quite laws enough as it was--more than she respected or enforced--and if she wanted any more, all she had to do was to pay for them.

He should take an early occasion to propose that all our wages--or, at any rate, his own; others might do as they pleased--should be raised, at the very least, two dollars a day, and this while he merely sat in the house; for he wished to engage me to move, by way of amendment, that as much more should be given to the committees.

He did not think it was fair to exact of a member to be a committee-man for nothin', although most of them were committee-men for nothin'; and if we were called on to keep two watches, in this manner, the least that could be done would be to give us TWO PAYS.