"These, and such-like, were his war-cries."
"'Bless me, if the mortar is not as thin-placed as the powder on a girl's face, Joe.'"
"'It's pretty.'
"'Now, lads, five minutes for beer.'
"All was soon comparatively silent.
"'Joe, you must draw it milder, for the row going on is more like an earthquake let loose than anything else I can think of, and it may spoil the game, for it is bound to draw a crowd.'
"'All right, partner, I never thought of that. Talk about Jack and the beanstalk, this beats it to squash. It's lucky the rock works in flat, and is not hollow. Of course, all the stones are on their natural beds, according to the specification—understand that. Don't let us have any mistake as to the catechism; if they are not, they will grow used to their new ones and shake down to rest.'
"I've never built a bridge that fell or gave much, perhaps a wingwall has bulged, but then it is the want of proper drainage and backing and nothing to do with the masonry. We only attend to the masonry according to the specification. Chorus—According to the specification. But they all do it, as the song says.
"It's my firm conviction that the man that invented wall-plates ought to have a marble monument in his native town, for they are beautiful distributors of weight, and when the stones are small, they are salvation for such masonry as we made rise."
"I agree with you, they cover a multitude of sins, and are powerful agents in the cause of unity and good behaviour."