morning,
Mrs. Entresol"; and, stating the price, proceeded to wait upon another
customer.

My highly business-like tone and manner rather added to my charming
friend's confusion, but she rallied surprisingly, put out her little
gloved hand to me, and exclaimed in the gayest voice: "Ah, you eccentric
man! What will you do next? To think of you selling in the market, _just
like a huckster_! You! I must tell Mrs. Belle Etoile of it. It is really
one of the best jokes I know of! And how well you act your part,
too,--just as if it came naturally to you," etc., etc.

Thus she ran on, laughing, and interfering with my sales, protesting all
the while that I was the greatest original in all her circle of
acquaintance. Of course it would have been idle for me to controvert her
view of the matter, so I quietly left her to the enjoyment of such an
excellent joke, and was rather glad when at last she went away. I could
not help wondering, however, after she was gone, why it was she should
think I joked in retailing the products of my farm, any more than Mr.
Entresol in retailing the goods piled upon his shelves and counters.
And why should one be "original" because he handles a peck-measure,
while another is _comme il faut_ in wielding a yardstick? Why did M.
Karr's thread-bare coat and shocking bad hat fling such a cloud of dust
in the eyes of passing friends, that they could not see him,

"Ne wot who that he ben?"

Now for another case. There is Tom Pinch's wife. Tom is an excellent
person, in every respect, and so is his wife. I don't know any woman
with a light purse and four children who manages better, or is possessed
of more sterling qualities, than Mrs. Tom Pinch. She is industrious,
amiable, intelligent; pious as father AEneas; in fact, the most devoted
creature to preachers and sermons that ever worked for a fair. She would
be very angry with you if you were to charge her with entertaining the
doctrine of "justification by works," but I seriously incline to believe
she imagines that seat of hers in that cushioned pew one of the
mainstays to her hope of heaven. And yet, at this crisis, Mrs. Tom Pinch
can't go to church! There is an insurmountable obstacle which keeps the
poor little thing at home every Sunday, and renders her (comparatively)
miserable the rest of the week. She takes a course of Jay's Sermons, to
be sure, but she takes it disconsolately, and has serious fears of
becoming a backslider. What is it clos