proposition.

"His visitor disappeared, and the tailor was left alone. He laid aside
his work. How could a man be expected to work who had only to wish, and
he could come into possession of more than he could earn in a hundred or
even a thousand years?

"'I might as well enjoy myself a little,' thought Mr. Tubbs. 'Let me
see. I think there is a show in the village to-day. I'll go to it.'

"He accordingly slipped on his hat and went out, somewhat to the
surprise of his wife, who concluded that her husband must be going out
on business.

"Thomas Tubbs wended his way to the marketplace. He pressed in among
the people, a crowd of whom had already assembled to witness the show.
I cannot tell you what the show was. I am only concerned in telling you
what Thomas Tubbs saw and did; and, to tell the plain truth, he didn't
see anything at all. He was wedged in among people a foot or two taller
than himself. Now, it is not pleasant to hear all about you laughing
heartily and not even catch a glimpse of what amuses them so much.
Thomas Tubbs was human, and as curious as most people. Just as a
six-footer squeezed in front of him he could not help framing, in his
vexation, this wish:

"'Oh, dear! I wish I were ten feet high!'

"Luckless Thomas Tubbs! Never had he framed a more unfortunate wish. On
the instant he shot up from an altitude of four feet six to ten feet.
Fortunately his clothes expanded proportionally. So, instead of being
below the medium height, he was raised more than four feet above it.

"Of course, his immediate neighbors became aware of the gigantic
presence, though they did not at all recognize its identity with the
little tailor, Thomas Tubbs.

"At once there was a shout of terror. The crowd scattered in all
directions, forgetting the spectacle at which, the moment before, they
had been laughing heartily, and the little tailor, no longer little, was
left alone in the market-place.

"'Good heavens!' he exclaimed in bewilderment, stretching out his
brawny arm, nearly five feet in length, and staring at it in ludicrous
astonishment, 'who'd have thought that I should ever be so tall?'

"To tell the truth, the little man--I mean Mr. Tubbs--at first rather
enjoyed his new magnitude. He had experienced mortification so long on
account of his diminutive stature, that he felt a little exhilarated
at the idea of being able to look down on those to whom he had hitherto
felt compelled to look up. It was rather aw