Mr. Sober's chief pleasure is conversation；there is no end of his talk or his attention；to speak or to hear is equally pleasing；for he still fancies that he is teaching or learning something, and is free for the time from his own reproaches.
But there is one time at night when he must go home, that his friends may sleep；and another time in the morning, when all the world agrees to shut out interruption. These are the moments of which poor Sober trembles at the thought.But the misery of these tiresome intervals, he has many means of alleviating.He has persuaded himself that the manual arts are undeservedly overlooked；he has observed in many trades the effects of close thought, and just ratiocination.From speculation he proceeded to practice, and supplied himself with the tools of a carpenter, with ；which he mended his coalbox very successfully, and which he still continues to employ, as he finds occasion.