etween bed and breakfast which often consumes so much of time;
and his eyes remained shut and his mouth open until perfectly assured
that all the preliminary arrangements had been completed. "Because,"
as Moggs wisely observed, "that half hour before breakfast, reflecting
on sausages and speculating on coffee, if there is sausages and
coffee, frets a man dreadful, and does him more harm than all the rest
of the day put together."--Sagacious Moggs!

Besides, Moggs has a great respect for himself--much more, probably,
than he has for other people, being the respecter of a person, rather
than of persons, and that person being himself. Moggs, therefore,
disdains the kindling of fires, splitting wood, and all that,
especially of frosty mornings--and eschews the putting on of
kettles--well knowing that if an individual is in the way when the aid
of an individual is required, there is likely to be a requisition on
the individual's services. Montezuma Moggs understood how to "skulk;"
and we all comprehend the fact that to "skulk" judiciously is a fine
political feature, saving much of wear and tear to the body corporate.

"Mend boots--mind shop--tend baby!--can't be," repeated Moggs,
draining the last drop from his cup--"boots, shops and babies must
mend, mind and tend themselves--I'm going to do something better than
that;" and so Moggs rose leisurely, took his hat, and departed, to
stroll the streets, to talk at the corners, and to read the
bulletin-boards at the newspaper offices, which, as Moggs often
remarks, not only encourages literature, but is also one of the
cheapest of all amusements--vastly more agreeable than if you paid for
it.

It was a little shop, in one of the poorer sections of the city, where
Montezuma Moggs resided with his family--Mrs. Moggs and five juveniles
of that name and race--a shop of the miscellaneous order, in which was
offered for sale a little, but a very little, of any thing, and every
thing--one of those distressed looking shops which bring a sensation
of dreariness over the mind, and which cause a sinking of the heart
before you have time to ask why you are saddened--a frail and feeble
barrier it seems against penury and famine, to yield at the first
approach of the gaunt enemy--a shop that has no aspect of business
about it, but compels you to think of distraining for rent, of broken
hearts, of sickness, suffering and death.

It was a shop, moreover--we have all seen the like--with a be