erning that particular, he took a slate
and began to cipher diligently. After a while, he looked up, and
pronounced in a very oracular manner, "Thou wilt find thy goods."

"Shall I find mine goots?" exclaimed the delighted Dutchman; "and where
is de tief?"

"Art thou quite sure about the age of the moon?" inquired the pretended
magician. Being assured there was no mistake on that point, he ciphered
again for a few minutes, and then answered, "Thou wilt find the thief in
the hands of the police."

The Dutchman went away, evidently inspired with profound reverence.
Having found his goods and the thief, according to prediction, he
returned and asked for a private interview. "Tell me dat secret," said
he, "and I will pay you a heap of money."

"What secret?" inquired Friend Hopper.

"Tell me how you know I will find mine goots, and where I will find de
tief?" rejoined he.

"The plain truth is, I guessed it," was the reply; "because I had heard
there was a thief at the police office, with such goods as thou
described."

"But what for you ask about de moon?" inquired the Dutchman. "You make
figures, and den you say, you will find your goots. You make figures
again, den you tell me where is de tief. I go, and find mine goots and
de tief, just as you say. Tell me how you do dat, and I will pay you a
heap of money."

Though repeatedly assured that it was done only for a joke, he went away
unsatisfied: and to the day of his death, he fully believed that the
facetious Quaker was a conjuror.

When Friend Hopper hired one of two houses where the back yards were
not separated, he found himself considerably incommoded by the
disorderly habits of his next neighbor. The dust and dirt daily swept
into the yard were allowed to accumulate there in a heap, which the wind
often scattered over the neater premises adjoining. The mistress of the
house was said to be of an irritable temper, likely to take offence if
asked to adopt a different system. He accordingly resolved upon a
course, which he thought might cure the evil without provoking a
dispute. One day, when he saw his neighbor in her kitchen, he called his
own domestic to come out into the yard. Pointing to the heap of dirt, he
exclaimed, loud enough to be heard in the next house, "Betsy, art thou
not ashamed to sweep dust and litter into such a heap. See how it is
blowing about our neighbor's yard! Art thou not ashamed of thyself?"

"I didn't sweep any dirt there," replie