et time was changed to midday. Then it was fun to count the wagons
on both sides of the street clear to where they frayed off into
wood-wagons, and to see the great heaps of apples and cabbages, and
potatoes and turnips, and all the other fruits and vegetables which
abounded in that fertile country. There was a great variety of poultry
for sale, and from time to time the air would be startled with the
clamor of fowls transferred from the coops where they had been softly
crr-crring in soliloquy to the hand of a purchaser who walked off with
them and patiently waited for their well-grounded alarm to die away. All
the time the market-master was making his rounds; and if he saw a pound
roll of butter that he thought was under weight, he would weigh it with
his steelyards, and if it was too light he would seize it. My boy once
saw a confiscation of this sort with such terror as he would now,
perhaps, witness an execution.

XI.

MUSTERS AND ELECTIONS.

THE Butler Guards were the finest military company in the world. I do
not believe there was a fellow in the Boy's Town who ever even tried to
imagine a more splendid body of troops: when they talked of them, as
they did a great deal, it was simply to revel in the recognition of
their perfection. I forget just what their uniform was, but there were
white pantaloons in it, and a tuft of white-and-red cockerel plumes that
almost covered the front of the hat, and swayed when the soldier walked,
and blew in the wind. I think the coat was gray, and the skirts were
buttoned back with buff, but I will not be sure of this; and somehow I
cannot say how the officers differed from the privates in dress; it was
impossible for them to be more magnificent. They walked backwards in
front of the platoons, with their swords drawn, and held in their
white-gloved hands at hilt and point, and kept holloing,
"Shoulder-r-r--arms! Carry--arms! Present--arms!" and then faced round,
and walked a few steps forward, till they could think of something else
to make the soldiers do.

[Illustration: THE "BUTLER GUARDS."]

Every boy intended to belong to the Butler Guards when he grew up; and
he would have given anything to be the drummer or the marker. These were
both boys, and they were just as much dressed up as the Guards
themselves, only they had caps instead of hats with plumes. It was
strange that the other fellows somehow did not know who these boys were;
but they never knew, or at least