a raft of
youngsters roun' that freight-house as there is most times of the day.
There's a Sunday-school clam-bake comin' off up to the Pint to-day, an'
I reckon most of the Millville boys was gettin' ready for to go to
that, so they wasn't on hand. Sam himself was there, though, an' it
beat all, the takin' he was in over them peanuts; an', to be sure, it
was enough to make any creetur' mad, to see them good peanuts go
rollin' an' hoppin' over the platform, an' Sam he in a' awful hurry to
load up an' go home, for he's a darter gettin' married this arternoon.
Ye didn't never hear about Sam Bates' darter, an' her city young man,
did ye? Well, ye see, Sam Bates' darter, her that is called----"

"But the peanuts; tell us what became of the peanuts first, Cap,"
interrupted Jim, determined to check the old sailor's wanderings, and
keep him to the "_pint_."

"Why, ye see," meandered on the captain, "when I see them peanuts
a-rollin' round, an' Sam in that takin', I says to myself, Sam ain't
got no time to lose a-pickin' up of them peanuts, an' maybe he'd be
glad to get rid of 'em for what he give for 'em an' no profits, an' let
Jim have the profits, an' no freight to pay on 'em but me to get 'em
picked up. 'Sam,' says I, as he was fussin' round, 'the Scriptur'
says,'--Sam's a deacon in the church, an' I thought mebbe a little
Scriptur' would fetch him, and keep the price down,--'the Scriptur'
says, Whatever a man can get, therewith let him be content; an' I take
it the moral of that is, make the best of a bad bargain. An' there's
another teks that says, Don't ye fret over spilt milk; an', bein' a
pillar of the church, I reckon you'd like to practise 'em, an' let your
light shine afore men.' Now if there's one thing more'n another that
Sam prides himself on, its bein' a deacon, an' livin' up to it; an' my
speakin' Scriptur' to him was jest a word in season, for he quiets down
an' falls to reckonin'. 'Give 'em to me for what you give by the lot,
an' throw in the freight,' says I, seein' he meant to make on 'em, 'an'
I'll take 'em an' see to the pickin' 'em up, an' you can load up the
cart an' start off home.' He jes' took to it at once, for, with the lot
he had, one bag didn't make so much differ out half a dozen--he buys
'em that way mostly, for ye know he keeps a' eatin' house; temperance
strict it is, up to Stony Beach, where there's lots of clambakes an'
picnics holdin' all the time, an' the folks eats heaps of peanuts. So