''Wall, I don't know. My wife kind o' thinks that turtle-color would suit our house better than Spanish brown. You put on two coats, of course?'
'I now saw what he meant, and roaring with laughter, explained to him that there was a difference between apainter of houses and a house-painter.
'One morning I was interrupted by a grim, Herculean, stern-looking young fellow—one who was manifestly a man of facts—who, with a brief introduction of himself, asked if I could teach 'the pictur business.' I signified my assent, and while talking of terms, continued painting away at a landscape. I noticed that my visitor glanced at my work at first as if puzzled, and then with an air of contempt. Finally he inquired:
'''S that the way you make your pictures?'
''That is it,' I replied.
''Do you have to keep workin' it in, bit by bit, slow—like as a gal works woosted-patterns?'
''Yes, and sometimes much slower, to paint well.'
''How long 'll it take to learn your trade?'
''Well, if you've any genius for it, you may become a tolerable artist in two years.'
''Two—thunder! Why, a man could learn to make shoes, in that time!'