s statement that Miss Ellen forgot her work to
listen intently, and all the needles fixed their eyes on the audacious
pin. Not a whit abashed it thus continued:--

"I am called 'Granny' among my friends, because I have had a long and
eventful life. I am hearty and well, however, in spite of this crick in
my back, and hope to serve you a good while yet, for you seem to
appreciate me, stout and ordinary as I look.

"Yes, my dear, pins and people _are_ alike, and that rusty
darning-needle need not stare so rudely, for I shall prove what I say.
We are divided into classes by birth and constitution, and each can do
much in its own sphere. I am a shawl pin, and it would be foolish in me
to aspire to the duties of those dainty lace pins made to fasten a
collar. I am contented with my lot, however, and, being of a strong make
and enterprising spirit, have had many adventures, some perils, and
great satisfactions since I left the factory long ago. I well remember
how eagerly I looked about me when the paper in which I lived, with some
hundreds of relations, was hung up in a shop window, to display our
glittering ranks and tempt people to buy. At last a purchaser came, a
dashing young lady who bought us with several other fancy articles, and
carried us away in a smart little bag, humming and talking to herself,
in what I thought a very curious way.

"When we were taken out I was all in a flutter to see where I was and
what would happen next. There were so many of us, I could hardly hope to
go first, for I was in the third row, and most people take us in order.
But Cora was a hasty, careless soul, and pulled us out at random, so I
soon found myself stuck up in a big untidy cushion, with every sort of
pin you can imagine. Such a gay and giddy set I never saw, and really,
my dear, their ways and conversation were quite startling to an ignorant
young thing like me. Pearl, coral, diamond, jet, gold, and silver heads,
were all around me as well as vulgar brass knobs, jaunty black pins,
good for nothing as they snap at the least strain, and my own relations,
looking eminently neat and respectable among this theatrical rabble. For
I will not disguise from you, Miss Ellen, that my first mistress was an
actress, and my life a very gay one at the beginning. Merry, kind, and
careless was the pretty Cora, and I am bound to confess I enjoyed myself
immensely, for I was taken by chance with half a dozen friends to pin up
the folds of her velv