He did not wish to go to the hotel, for it looked like a very smart house, and he reasoned that he should have to pay pretty roundly for accommodations there.

These high prices would eat up his profits, and he seriously deliberated whether it would not be better for him to sleep under a tree than pay fifty cents for a lodging.
If I had been there I should have told him that a man loses nothing in the long run by taking good care of himself.

He must eat well and sleep well, in order to do well and be well.

But I suppose Bobby would have told me that it was of no use to pay a quarter extra for sleeping on a gilded bedstead, since the room would be so dark he could not see the gilt even if he wished to do so.

I could not have said any thing to such a powerful argument; so I am very glad the mechanic's wife set the matter at rest by offering him a bed in her house.
He spent a very pleasant evening with the family, who made him feel entirely at home, they were so kind and so plain spoken.