rprise, against the matter-of-fact
pioneer.

The "travelling merchants" of this country were generally what their
customers called "Yankees"--that is, New-Englanders, or descendants of
the puritans, whether born east of the Hudson or not. And, certainly, no
class of men were ever better fitted for an occupation, than were those
for "peddling." The majority of them were young men, too; for the
"Yankee" who lives beyond middle age, without providing snug quarters
for the decline of life, is usually not even fit for a peddler. But,
though often not advanced in years, they often exhibited qualities,
which one would have expected to find only in men of age and experience.
They could "calculate," with the most absolute certainty, what precise
stage of advancement and cultivation, was necessary to the introduction
of every article of merchandise their stock comprised. Up to a certain
limit, they offered, for example, linen table-cloths: beyond that,
cotton was better and more saleable; in certain settlements, they could
sell numbers of the finer articles, which, in others, hung on their
hands like lead; and they seemed to know, the moment they breathed the
air of a neighborhood, what precise character of goods was most likely
to pay.

Thus--by way of illustration--it might seem, to one not experienced in
reading the signs of progress, a matter of nice speculation and subtle
inquiry, to determine what exact degree of cultivation was necessary, to
make profitable the trade in _clocks_. But I believe there is no
instance of an unsuccessful clock-peddler on record; and, though this
fact may be accounted for, superficially, by asserting that time is
alike important to all men, and a measure of its course, therefore,
always a want, a little reflection will convince us, that this
explanation is more plausible than sound.

It is, perhaps, beyond the capacity of any man, to judge unerringly, by
observation, of the usual signs of progress, the exact point at which a
community, or a man, has arrived in the scale of cultivation; and it may
seem especially difficult, to determine commercially, what precise
articles, of use or ornament, are adapted to the state indicated by
those signs. But that there are such indications, which, if properly
attended to, will be unfailing guides, is not to be denied. Thus, the
quick observation of a clock-peddler would detect among a community of
primitive habits, the growing tendency to regularity o