d
Tackleton, toy merchants. He was spare, gray-haired, and very poor. It
was his pride "to go as close to Natur' in his toys as he could for the
money." Caleb Plummer had a blind daughter, who assisted him in his
toy-making, and whom he brought up under the belief that he himself was
young, handsome, and well off, and that the house they lived in was
sumptuously furnished and quite magnificent. Every calamity he smoothed
over, every unkind remark of their snarling employer he called a merry
jest; so that the poor blind girl lived in a castle of the air, "a
bright little world of her own." When merry or puzzled, Caleb used to
sing something about "a sparkling bowl."

_Bertha Plummer_, the blind daughter of the toy-maker, who fancied her
poor old father was a young fop, that the sack he threw across his
shoulders was a handsome blue great-coat, and that their wooden house
was a palace. She was in love with Tackleton, the toy merchant, whom she
thought to be a handsome young prince; and when she heard that he was
about to marry May Fielding, she drooped and was like to die. She was
then disillusioned, heard the real facts, and said, "Why, oh, why did
you deceive me thus? Why did you fill my heart so full, and then come
like death, and tear away the objects of my love?" However, her love for
her father was not lessened, and she declared that the knowledge of the
truth was "sight restored." "It is my sight," she cried. "Hitherto I
have been blind, but now my eyes are open. I never knew my father
before, and might have died without ever having known him truly."

_Edward Plummer_, son of the toy-maker, and brother of the blind girl.
He was engaged from boyhood to May Fielding, went to South America, and
returned to marry her; but, hearing of her engagement to Tackleton, the
toy merchant, he assumed the disguise of a deaf old man, to ascertain
whether she loved Tackleton or not. Being satisfied that her heart was
still his own, he married her, and Tackleton made them a present of the
wedding-cake which he had ordered for himself.--C. Dickens, _The Cricket
on the Hearth_ (1845).

=Plush= (_John_), any gorgeous footman, conspicuous for his plush breeches
and rainbow colors.

=Plutarch= (_The Modern_), Vayer, born at Paris. His name in full was
Francis Vayer de la Mothe (1586-1672).

=Pluto=, the god of Had[^e]s.

Brothers, be of good cheer, for this night we shall sup with
Pluto.--Leonidas, _To the Three Hu