He talks nonsense some of the time, but occasionally he knocks me down with a big idea--or his way of putting a big idea.

He doesn't understand a good deal that he sees; and yet he sometimes says something perfectly staggering." "He does; by George, he does! Damn it, I took him to see a glassworks the other day; thought it would appeal to his sense of what you call the picturesque; but, Lord bless me, he asked how much the blowers were paid and wanted me to raise their pay on the spot.

That was one on me, all right; I'd thought of giving him the works to play with, but I didn't have the nerve to offer it to him after that.

'Fraid he'd either turn it down or take it and bust me." Thatcher had referred to this incident with unmistakable pride; he was evidently amused rather than chagrined by his son's scorn of the gift of a profitable industry.

"I offered him money to start a carpenter shop or furniture factory or anything he wanted to tackle, but he wouldn't have it.