ding country. There was a very different
atmosphere around the stores of these two village merchants. The Smiths
were religious people, father and son, not merely so in name, but in
reality. A child could have purchased half their stock on as favorable
terms as the shrewdest man in the place. Mr. Jessup, on the contrary,
varied as he could light of chaps, that is, according to circumstances.
He was, however, an off-hand, free-and-easy fellow, with many generous
qualities, which made him popular with most who knew him. He did not
hesitate to declare that his views on religious subjects were liberal--a
bold announcement for a man to make in Hampton. Indeed, his enemies put
him down for a Universalist, or at best a Unitarian, for which they
claimed to have some reason, since he seldom went to church, although
his wife was a communicant, and very regular in her attendance.

I have been thus particular in describing the two rival establishments
because Hiram Meeker is to enter one of them. The reader will naturally
suppose there can be little doubt which, and he has a right to exhibit
surprise on learning that Hiram decided in favor of Mr. Jessup. I say
HIRAM decided. His father preferred that he should go with the Smiths.
His mother was of the same opinion, but she permitted her son, who now
was very capable of acting for himself, to persuade her that Jessup's
was the place for him: 'More going on--greater variety of business--much
more enterprise,' and consequently more to be learned. It would be
difficult to follow closely the train of reasoning which led Hiram to
insist so perseveringly in favor of Mr. Jessup. For the reasons he gave
were on the surface, while those which really decided him were keen and
subtle, based on a shrewd appreciation of the position of the two
merchants, and his probable relation to one or the other. With the
Smiths, Hiram saw no room for any fresh exhibition of talent or
enterprise; in the other place he saw a great deal.

Once decided on, he was speedily settled in his new abode, where he
formed a part of the household of the proprietor, together with the
head-clerk, a 'cute fellow of five and twenty, who was reported to be as
'keen as a razor.' It was evident Mr. Jessup valued him highly, from the
respect he always paid to his advice and from his giving up so much of
the management of the business to him. Besides, it was rumored he was
engaged to Mr. Jessup's oldest daughter, a handsome, blac