It so happened, however, that the American's family built much better than the Englishman's. When the latter noticed that the superior craft of the former were better patronized by the public than his own, he asked the Yankee boys if they wouldn't build some boats in their style for him? "Sartain," they said, "if you'll pay us what Uncle Sammy pays for his'n?" "Aye, of course I wull," said Mr. Bull, "for boats like yon I mast have, or Sam will run away with all my business, and my family will starve." So Uncle Sam's boys built the boats for Mr. Bull, and the two old gentlemen got on amicably, for there was business enough for them both, and the Dutchman did not interfere with them a great deal. The few carpenters among Mr. Bull's relations did not like this very well, but the old man said to them squarely, "Look you here, now, d'ye think I'm going to let fifty of my relatives stand still because two or three of you, who can't build boats as well as Sam's people, are growling about it? That's not my way; I work for the good of my family at large. Go to work, now, and see if you can invent a better boat than they build; if you can, I will employ you, and so will Sam." They took the old man's advice, for they saw the sense of it, and in a short time they studied out a craft superior in every respect to anything they had before, or that Sam had now. "That's right, boys," exclaimed old Bull, rubbing his hands with glee, "now build some of them, and I'll buy them of you, and so will Sam if he isn't a fool." They did build some excellent boats, to which the public took at once; and everybody who wanted to cross the river, or to send any goods over
immediately, gave Mr. Bull their custom. He grew rich suddenly, not so much from building boats as from using them. Nobody patronized Sam's now old-fashioned craft. Uncle Sam, generally supposed to be a "smart old cuss," couldn't understand it at all. "It's one of those things that no fellow can find out," he said, "but next time we have a family meeting we'll appoint a committee to get at what this here 'decadence' comes from." So he appointed a committee, and they ran around six months among the carpenters of the family, and came back with a report that "Whereas, a few years ago, during a family row, a lot of old ferry boats had been stolen by or sold to Mr. Bull, this had killed boat building ever since and it always would be dead until every one of the family put their hands in their pockets and supported the carpenters till they had learned to build just such boats as Bull was using." In the meantime it may be remarked that the Dutchman had got Bull's boys to build some new boats for him, and he was now doing a better business than he had ever done before. Uncle Sam looked on and observed, "By jingo, this here's a fix; I've asked my family to hand over the cash to support these carpenters of mine, and they say they'll see me——; well, never mind what, and now that whole raft of boys, who were earning money for me on the ferry, are digging clams or gone to farming, and when I want to go across the river I have to go with Bull or the Dutchman, and pay them for it, instead of getting money for doing what they do, myself." His boys, who were thrown out of employment on the ferry, thereupon approached the old gentleman and said, "Uncle Samuel,
don't you remember how, a while ago, when those carpenters of ours built better boats than Mr. Bull's could build, the old fellow came to you, and asked you to let them build some for him? If he hadn't got them from us his fellows would shortly have been high and dry, as we are now; but we sold them to him, and so he kept up his business on the ferry. Now, why don't you do what he did, and give us something to do, instead of spending your money going across in his boats and the Dutchman's?" Uncle Sam reared right up at this mild remonstrance. "Git out," he exclaimed, "you ain't no account, the ferry's no account, there ain't nothing of no account in this here family but just a half a dozen boat builders. Say, Jonathan, what are you doin' with that ar jack-knife? Did you make it?" "No, sir I bought it of one of Bull's boys." "Well, then, lay it right down; I ain't a goin' to have you whittle till you can make one for yourself." And then the old man went off—mad! And in another sense of the word, he is still mad.
Transcriber's Note
Variant and inconsistent spellings in the original 1878 text have been retained in this ebook. Variable usage of quotation marks has also been retained.
The following typographical corrections have been made:
Page 15: Changed , to . (exclaimed my friend with some amazement.)
Page 20: Changed . to ? (buy with his own money?)
Page 22: Changed Britian to Britain