"Oh! de work here is awful, grubbin' up old stones and stumps; 'tain't fit for women." (William much impressed with the cogency of this repetition.) "But which place do you like the best?" "And de winter here, oh! it's wonderful tryin." (William utters an affirmative flash.) "But which place do you like the best?" "And den dere's de rheumatiz." "But which place do you like the best, Mrs. Deer?" "Well," said Mrs. Deer, glancing at Bill, "I like Nova Scotia best." (Whatever visions of Maryland were gleaming in William's mind, seemed to be entirely quenched by this remark.) "But why," said I, "do you prefer Nova Scotia to Maryland? Here you have to work so much harder, to suffer so much from the cold and the rheumatism, and get so little for it;" for I could not help looking over the green patch of stony grass that has been rescued by the labor of a quarter century. "Oh!" replied Mrs. Deer, "de difference is, dat when I work here, I work for myself, and when I was working at home, I was working for other people." (At this, William broke forth again in such a series of platoon flashes, that we all joined in with infinite merriment.) "Mrs. Deer," said I, recovering my gravity, "I want to ask you one more question." "Well, sah," said the lady Deer, cocking her head on one side, expressive of being able to answer any number of questions in a twinkling. "You have, no doubt, still many relatives left in Maryland?" "Oh! yes," replied Mrs. Deer, "_all_ of dem are dar." "And suppose you had a chance to advise them in regard to this matter, would you tell them to run away, and take their part with you in Nova Scotia, or would you advise them to stay where they are?"