Here, in pleasant summer twilights or on moonlight nights, he sat and smoked.

He had a good many callers and but few real friends.

Most of the townspeople liked him, but almost all considered him a joke, an oddity, a specimen to be pointed out to those of the summer people who were looking for "types." A few, like Mr.Gabriel Bearse, who distinctly did NOT understand him and who found his solemn suggestions and pointed repartee irritating at times, were inclined to refer to him in these moments of irritation as "town crank." But they did not really mean it when they said it.

And some others, like Leander Babbitt or Captain Hunniwell, came to ask his advice on personal matters, although even they patronized him just a little.

He had various nicknames, "Shavings" being the most popular.
His peculiar business, the making of wooden mills, toys and weather vanes, had grown steadily.