other with me now--with a portrait of General Jackson in the
front--which I expect to add to his stock. There is a farmer not far
from here, with whom I have 'traded' clocks every year since I first
entered the neighborhood--always receiving about half the value of the
article I sell, in money, 'to boot.' There are clock-fanciers, as well
as fanciers of dogs and birds; and I have known cases, in which a man
would have two or three time-pieces in his house, and not a pair of
shoes in the family! But such customers are rare--as they ought to be;
and the larger part of our trade is carried on, with people who begin to
feel the necessity of regularity--to whom the sun has ceased to be a
sufficient guide--and who have acquired some notions of elegance and
comfort. And we seldom encounter the least trouble in determining, by
the general appearance of the place, whether the occupant has arrived at
that stage of refinement."

We perceive that the principal study of the peddler is human nature; and
though he classifies the principles of his experience, more especially
with reference to the profits of his trade, his rapid observation of
minor traits and indications, is a talent which might be useful in many
pursuits, besides clock-peddling. And, accordingly, we discover that,
even after he has abandoned the occupation, and ceased to be a bird of
passage, he never fails to turn his learning to a good account.

He was distinguished by energy as well as shrewdness, and an
enterprising spirit was the first element of his prosperity. There was
no corner--no secluded settlement--no out-of-the way place--where he was
not seen. Bad roads never deterred him: he could drive his horses and
wagon where a four-wheeled vehicle never went before. He understood
bearings and distances as well as a topographical engineer, and would
go, whistling contentedly, across a prairie or through a forest, where
he had not even a "trail" to guide him. He could find fords and
crossings where none were previously known to exist; and his pair of
lean horses, by the skilful management of their driver, would carry him
and his wares across sloughs and swamps, where a steam-engine would have
been clogged by the weight of a baby-wagon. If he broke his harness or
his vehicle in the wilderness, he could repair it without assistance,
for his mechanical accomplishments extended from the shoeing of a horse
to the repair of a watch, and embraced everything between. He