... during the absence of the slaters. When he taps for only one or two the thing is child's- play, but when he has to represent a whole troop, it is then that he earns his money in the sweat of his brow. Then must he bound from spot to spot, reduplicate, triplicate, sexduplicate his single personality, and swell and hasten his blows., until he produce a perfect illusion for the ear, and you would swear that a crowd of emulous masons were continuing merrily to ... — Essays of Travel • Robert Louis Stevenson
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