Yes, sir--he must stay away. If no better can
be done, I'll hire a man to stand at the door and keep him out."

"He never troubled you at the mill," said I. "No man was required at
the mill door?"

"No!" And the landlord gave emphasis to the word by an oath, ejaculated
with a heartiness that almost startled me. I had not heard him swear
before. "No; the great trouble was to get him and keep him there, the
good-for-nothing, idle fellow!"

"I am afraid," I ventured to suggest, "that things don't go on quite so
smoothly here as they did at the mill. Your customers are of a
different class."

"I don't know about that; why not?" He did not just relish my remark.

"Between quiet, thrifty, substantial farmers, and drinking bar-room
loungers, are many degrees of comparison."

"Excuse me, sir!" Simon Slade elevated his person. "The men who visit
my bar-room, as a general thing, are quite as respectable, moral, and
substantial as any who came to the mill--and I believe more so. The
first people in the place, sir, are to be found here. Judge Lyman and
Judge Hammond; Lawyer Wilks and Doctor Maynard; Mr. Grand and Mr. Lee;
and dozens of others--all our first people. No, sir; you mustn't judge
all by vagabonds like Joe Morgan."

There was a testy spirit manifested that I did not care to provoke. I
could have met his assertion with facts and inferences of a character
to startle any one occupying his position, who was in a calm,
reflective state; but to argue with him then would have been worse than
idle; and so I let him talk on until the excitement occasioned by my
words died out for want of new fuel.

NIGHT THE THIRD.

JOE MORGAN'S CHILD.

"I don't see anything of your very particular friend, Joe Morgan, this
evening," said Harvey Green, leaning on the bar and speaking to Slade.
It was the night succeeding that on which the painful and exciting
scene with the child had occurred.

"No," was answered--and to the word was added a profane imprecation.
"No; and if he'll just keep away from here, he may go to--on a
hard-trotting horse and a porcupine saddle as fast as he pleases. He's
tried my patience beyond endurance, and my mind is made up that he gets
no more drams at this bar. I've borne his vile tongue and seen my
company annoyed by him just as long as I mean to stand it. Last night
decided me. Suppose I'd killed that child?"

"You'd have had trouble then, and no mistake."

"Wouldn't I? Blast her little pic