at shill I do?"

"Perhaps they'll put you in an ice-house, and kiver you up with tan
till summer comes--you'd be good for something then, which is more nor
you are now," observed Mrs. Moggs from the window.

"Quit twitting a man with his misfortunes," whined Montezuma, of the
now broken-heart.

"Why, my duck!"

"Y-e-e-s--y-e-e-s! that's it--I am a duck, indeed! but by morning I'll
be only a snow-ball--the boys will take my head for a snow-ball. What
shill I do--I guvs up, and I guvs in."

"Well, I'll tell you, Montezuma Moggs, what you must do to be thawed.
Promise me faithfully only to work half as hard as I do, and you may
come to the fire--the ten-plate stove is almost red-hot. Promise to
mend boots, mind shop, and tend baby; them's the terms--that's the
price of admission."

Hard terms, certainly--the severest of terms--but then hard terms, and
severe terms, are good terms, if no other terms are to be had. One
must do the best he can in this world, if it be imperative upon him to
do something, as it evidently was in Moggs' case.

"I promise," shivered Moggs.

"Promise what?"

"T-t-to tend baby, m-m-mind shop, and m-m-mend boots;" and the
vanquished Moggs sank down exhausted, proving, beyond the possibility
of doubt, that cold water, when skillfully applied of a cold night, is
the sovereignest thing on earth for the cure of "genus" in its lazier
branches.

It is but justice, however, to state, that Moggs kept his word
faithfully, in which he contradicted the general expectation, which,
with reason enough in the main, places but little reliance on
promises; and he became, for him, quite an industrious person. His
wife's buckets served as a continual remembrancer. But Mrs. Moggs
never exulted over his defeat; and, though once compelled to
harshness, continued to be to Montezuma a most excellent wife. The
shop looks lively now--and the bell to the door is removed; for Moggs,
with his rat-tat-tat, is ever at his post, doing admired execution on
the dilapidated boots and shoes. The Moggses prosper, and all through
the efficacy of a bucket of cold water. We should not wonder if, in
the end, the Moggs family were to become rich, through the force of
industry, and without recourse to "genus."

"Politics and me has shuck hands forever," said the repentant Moggs.
"I've been looking out and expecting loaves and fishes long enough.
Loaves, indeed! Why I never got even a cracker, unless it was aside of
the ear, wh