"It's only a lot o' nonsense I picked up somehow or other out West." "It is a very funny mixture," said Fritz.

"It is a wonder to me who imagines these absurd things and makes them up!" "Right you air," replied the man.

"A heap more curious it is than the folks who write the clever things; and the queerest bit about it is, too, that the nonsense spreads quicker and faster than the sense!" "Human nature," said Fritz laconically, expressing thus his opinion of the matter.
"You're a philosopher, I reckon ?" observed the deck hand in reply.
"No, not quite that," answered Fritz, rather surprised at such a remark from a man of the sort.

"I merely form conclusions from what I see.
I'm only a clerk--and you ?" "I'm a deck hand now," said the other, speaking rather bitterly.

"Last fall, I was a cow boy, Minnesota way; next year, I'll be goodness knows what.