"well, sir," said the pilgrim, "there was a day, and not very long ago, neither, when i stood at my counting-room window, and watched the signal flags of three of my own ships entering the harbor, from the east indies, from liverpool, and from up the straits, and i would not have given the invoice of the least of them for the title-deeds of this whole shaker settlement. you stare. perhaps, now, you won't believe that i could have put more value on a little piece of paper, no bigger than the palm of your hand, than all these solid acres of grain, grass, and pasture-land would sell for?"