know much about
groceries, and the business did not appear to him to possess any
aesthetic features.

He was much pleased by a small shop belonging to a taxidermist. It was
exceedingly cosey, and the business was probably not so great as to
overwork any one. He might send the birds and beasts which were
brought to be stuffed to some practical operator, and have him put them
in proper condition for the customers. He might-- But no. It would
be very unsatisfactory to engage in a business of which he knew
absolutely nothing. A taxidermist ought not to blush with ignorance
when asked some simple question about a little dead bird or a defunct
fish. And so he tore himself from the window of this fascinating
place, where, he fancied, had his education been differently managed,
he could in time have shown the world the spectacle of a cheerful and
unblighted Mr. Venus.

The shop which at last appeared to suit him best was one which he had
passed and looked at several times before it struck him favorably. It
was in a small brick house in a side street, but not far from one of
the main business avenues of the city. The shop seemed devoted to
articles of stationery and small notions of various kinds not easy to
be classified. He had stopped to look at three penknives fastened to a
card, which was propped up in the little show-window, supported on one
side by a chess-board with "History of Asia" in gilt letters on the
back, and on the other by a small violin labelled "1 dollar." And as
he gazed past these articles into the interior of the shop, which was
now lighted up, it gradually dawned upon him that it was something like
his ideal of an attractive and interesting business place. At any
rate, he would go in and look at it. He did not care for a violin,
even at the low price marked on the one in the window, but a new
pocket-knife might be useful. So he walked in and asked to look at
pocket-knives.

The shop was in charge of a very pleasant old lady of about sixty, who
sat sewing behind the little counter. While she went to the window and
very carefully reached over the articles displayed therein to get the
card of penknives, Mr. Tolman looked about him. The shop was quite
small, but there seemed to be a good deal in it. There were shelves
behind the counter, and there were shelves on the opposite wall, and
they all seemed well filled with something or other. In the corner
near the old lady's chair was a littl