ake their heads at you! How the young
people would titter and point at you; and some would say: 'Just look
yonder at Sprigg, strutting about in a pair of red moccasins, as if he
were thinking himself so much finer than our bare-footed boys--the young
monkey!' And, Sprigg, would you like to be called a monkey? I rather
think not. You'd rather take a whipping any day than to be laughed at
and ridiculed."

"No, but they wouldn't laugh; nobody would think of laughing. The boys
would envy me and the girls would admire me, and everybody would say:
'Just look yonder at Sprigg! But isn't he fine? Oh, how beautiful! So
beautiful in his red moccasins.'"

And the vain boy would fall to dancing and skipping about the earthen
floor of the kitchen, as if the very thought of the moccasins had made
him tipsy.

"Dandy Jim, of Caroline, might say all that of dandy monkey at a show,"
would Elster answer, "and dandy Jim might say as much of dandy Sprigg at
church, but nobody else would--count on that! So, just leave the red
tomfooleries to Indians and monkeys, my boy; and just make up your mind
to be satisfied, and more than satisfied, too, with the nice boots,
which pap has promised to bring you when he goes to our old home next
spring."

But, let his mother picture him in whatever color she might, the vain
boy would go on hankering after the red moccasins all the same; till, by
and by, they took such hold on his fancy that his thoughts by day and
his dreams by night assumed the same complexion, and became, so to
speak, as red as the reddest of leather. Indeed, there were moments when
it did seem to Sprigg as if he would be willing to part with one of his
legs for a pair of red moccasins.

Now, you are thinking such a whim, out of all nature and reason, absurd,
and I fully agree with you; yet, have I known a few grown-up children
in my day, of high reputation for judgment, who in some of the fancies
they have cherished, and in some of the bargains they have made, have
exhibited not a whit more judgment than poor Sprigg. Distinguished
personages, who, from the solid and dignified outward appearance they
showed to the eyes of the world, would give you the impression that they
had never entertained a foolish fancy, or mistaken the shadow for the
substance in all their lives, I have known women who have given their
hands--sacrificed the best of their hearts--to put their heads in other
women's bonnets; and I have known men who have sold