oor.

It is an old adage that money makes friends; the carpenter was surprised
to find that the mere fact of his having a moneyed relation had the same
effect, and that men to whom he had hitherto shown a certain amount of
respect due to their position now sought his company. They stood him
beer at the "Bell," and walked by his side through the street. When they
took to dropping in of an evening to smoke a pipe the carpenter was
radiant with happiness.

"You don't seem to see beyond the end of your nose, Tidger," said the
wife of his bosom after they had retired one evening.

"H'm?" said the startled carpenter.

"What do you think old Miller, the dealer, comes here for?" demanded his
wife.

"Smoke his pipe," replied her husband, confidently.

"And old Wiggett?" persisted Mrs. Tidger.

"Smoke his pipe," was the reply. "Why, what's the matter, Polly?"

Mrs. Tidger sniffed derisively. "You men are all alike," she snapped.
"What do you think Ann wears that pink bodice for?"

"I never noticed she 'ad a pink bodice, Polly," said the carpenter.

"No? That's what I say. You men never notice anything," said his wife.
"If you don't send them two old fools off, I will."

"Don't you like 'em to see Ann wearing pink?" inquired the mystified
Tidger.

Mrs. Tidger bit her lip and shook her head at him scornfully. "In plain
English, Tidger, as plain as I can speak it,"--she said, severely,
"they're after Ann and 'er bit o' money."

Mr. Tidger gazed at her open-mouthed, and taking advantage of that fact,
blew out the candle to hide his discomposure. "What!" he said, blankly,
"at 'er time o' life?"

"Watch 'em to-morrer," said his wife.

The carpenter acted upon his instructions, and his ire rose as he noticed
the assiduous attention paid by his two friends to the frivolous Mrs.
Pullen. Mr. Wiggett, a sharp-featured little man, was doing most of the
talking, while his rival, a stout, clean-shaven man with a slow, oxlike
eye, looked on stolidly. Mr. Miller was seldom in a hurry, and lost many
a bargain through his slowness--a fact which sometimes so painfully
affected the individual who had outdistanced him that he would offer to
let him have it at a still lower figure.

"You get younger than ever, Mrs. Pullen," said Wiggett, the conversation
having turned upon ages.

"Young ain't the word for it," said Miller, with a praiseworthy
determination not to be left behind.

"No; it's age as you're thinking of