164 WINTER SKETCHES. 



stoves, and wish, for the success of their busi- 

 ness, that all the days of the year might be 

 like unto it. 



I once asked a stove manufacturer why he 

 was a protectionist, and why he so cheerfully 

 submitted to a heavy duty on the iron that 

 he worked. " Oh, well," said the manufacturer, 

 whose house had just divided the year's profit 

 of $48,000, ** we can stand it ; we get enough 

 out of the public, and so we can afford to let 

 the pig-iron men get something out of us." 

 I did not propose just now to leave Fanny out 

 in the cold while I went into his ofifice to argue 

 the question with him. She might have stood 

 there till this time, and my friend would not 

 have satisfied me that any reduction of the 

 duty on pig-iron would infallibly reduce his 

 own profits and the wages of his men, 



Verplanck's Point, where it projects into the 

 Hudson, is four miles below Peekskill, almost 

 directly opposite Stony Point upon the other 

 side. The British held these commanding 

 positions, which gave them control of the 

 river. Later in the war they were abandoned, 

 and the Americans extended their lines nomi- 

 nally to the vicinity of Tarrytown^ although 

 the intervening ten or fifteen miles were at 



