vise is to discontinue selling him more
goods and to worry him all you can about the old bill. He may grow tired
of being dunned and pay, if not all, at least something on account.

When Mary read this portion of the letter to her Uncle Shadrach his
scorn was outspoken.

"Get tired!" he scoffed. "Jerry Clifford get tired of bein' dunned!
DON'T talk so foolish! Why, he gets fat on that kind of thing; it's
the main excitement he has, that and spendin' a cent twice a day for
newspapers. Did you ever watch Jerry buy a paper? No? Well, you go up to
Ellis's some day when the mornin' papers are put out for sale and watch
him. He'll drive up to the door with that old hoopskirt of a horse
of his--that's what the critter looks like, one of them old-fashioned
hoop-skirts; there was nothin' to them but framework and a hollow
inside, and that's all there is to that horse.--Well, Jerry he'll drive
up and come in to the paper counter, his eyes shinin' and his nerves all
keyed up and one hand shoved down into his britches pocket. He'll stand
and look over the papers on the counter, readin' as much of every one
as he can for nothin', and then by and by that hand'll come out of his
pocket with a cent in it. Then the other hand'll reach over and get hold
of the paper he's cal'latin' to buy, get a good clove hitch onto it, and
then for a minute he'll stand there lookin' first at the cent and then
at the paper and rubbin' the money between his finger and thumb--he's
figgerin' to have a little of the copper smell left on his hand even if
he has to let go of the coin, you see--and--"

Mary laughed.

"Uncle Shad," she exclaimed, "what ridiculous nonsense you do talk!"

"No nonsense about it. It's dead serious. It ain't any joke to Jerry,
you can bet on that. Well, after a spell, he kind of gets his spunk up
to make the plunge, as you might say, lays down the penny--Oh, he
never throws it down; he wouldn't treat real money as disrespectful
as that--grabs up the paper and makes a break for outdoors, never once
lookin' back for fear he might change his mind. When he drives off in
his buggy you can see that he's all het up and trembly, like one of them
reckless Wall Street speculators you read about. He's spent a cent,
but he's had a lovely nerve-wrackin' time doin' it. Oh, a feller has
to satisfy his cravin' for excitement somehow, and Jerry satisfies his
buyin' one-cent newspapers and seein' his creditors get mad. Do you
suppose you can w