or trade; but there
is genius in our calling as well as cleverness. Come hither, boy," he
added, drawing Tom to a window whence they could see the neighbors
on their way to church, for it was on a Sunday that my two provident
progenitors indulged in this moral view of humanity, as best fitted the
day, "come hither, boy, and thou shalt see some small portion of that
capital which thou seemest to think hid, stalking abroad by daylight,
and in the open streets. Here, thou seest the wife of our neighbor,
the pastry-cook; with what an air she tosses her head and displays the
bauble thou sold'st her yesterday: well, even that slattern, idle and
vain, and little worthy of trust as she is, carries about with her a
portion of my capital!"

My worthy ancestor stared, for he never knew the other to be guilty of
so great an indiscretion as to trust a woman whom they both knew bought
more than her husband was willing to pay for.

"She gave me a guinea, master, for that which did not cost a
seven-shilling piece!"

"She did, indeed, Tom, and it was her vanity that urged her to it. I
trade upon her folly, younker, and upon that of all mankind; now dost
thou see with what a capital I carry on affairs? There--there is the
maid, carrying the idle hussy's patterns in the rear; I drew upon my
stock in that wench's possession, no later than the last week, for
half-a-crown!"

Tom reflected a long time on these allusions of his provident master,
and although he understood them about as well as they will be understood
by the owners of half the soft humid eyes and sprouting whiskers
among my readers, by dint of cogitation he came at last to a practical
understanding of the subject, which before he was thirty he had, to use
a French term, pretty well exploite.

I learn by unquestionable tradition, received also from the mouths of
his contemporaries, that the opinions of my ancestor underwent some
material changes between the ages of ten and forty, a circumstance that
has often led me to reflect that people might do well not to be too
confident of the principles, during the pliable period of life, when the
mind, like the tender shoot, is easily bent aside and subjected to the
action of surrounding causes.

During the earlier years of the plastic age, my ancestor was observed to
betray strong feelings of compassion at the sight of charity-children,
nor was he ever known to pass a child, especially a boy that was still
in petticoats, who was