"First rate; I guess the folks have had enough of it, this winter, by jolly. I hev, any how," says the rural gent. "Trade's dull, eh?"
"Very—very slack."
"Dullest time of the year, I reckon, ain't it?"
"Pretty much so, indeed," says the storekeeper.
"I don't see's Californy goold gets much plentier, or business much better, nowhere."
To this bit of cogent reason our friend replied—
"Not much—that's a fact."
"I 'spect there's a good deal of humbug about the Californy goold mines, don't you?"
"The wealth of the country or the ease of coming at it," said the storekeeper, "is no doubt exaggerated some."
"That's my opinion on't too," said the agriculturist. "Some make money out there, and then agin some don't; I reckon more don't than does." To this bright inference the storekeeper ventured to say—