"And then," added the first speaker, "a fellow who will go without his dinner to hear a speech must have a pretty good appetite for knowledge, unless he is obliged to diet."
"He'll have a good appetite for supper, I'm thinking," said another, rather dryly.
Nat heard the eulogy, and was back again to his work within three hours. There were some smiling faces as he entered the shop, and he could very readily read the thoughts behind them.
"Was you in time?" inquired the fellow-workman with whom he had the conversation about going.
"I could not have hit better," Nat replied, "if I had known the precise minute the eulogy would commence. It was good, too; and a greater crowd I never saw."
"There would not have been room for me if I had gone, then?"
"No; I just made out the complement. I took the last place there was, and it was a close fit for me."
"How did you like Mr. Adams?"
"Better than I expected. I had not formed a very exalted idea of his eloquence, perhaps because I have heard Webster and Everett, but he was really eloquent, and spoke evidently without any political or partisan prejudices. He appears older than I expected."
"He is getting to be an old man, and he has been through enough to make him gray long ago."