m carried me swimmingly
along. I selected my street-crossing, in the first place, with great
deliberation, and I never put down a broom in any part of the town but
that. I took care, too, to have a nice little puddle at hand, which I
could get at in a minute. By these means I got to be well known as a
man to be trusted; and this is one-half the battle, let me tell you, in
trade. Nobody ever failed to pitch me a copper, and got over my crossing
with a clean pair of pantaloons. And, as my business habits, in this
respect, were sufficiently understood, I never met with any attempt at
imposition. I wouldn't have put up with it, if I had. Never imposing
upon any one myself, I suffered no one to play the possum with me. The
frauds of the banks of course I couldn't help. Their suspension put
me to ruinous inconvenience. These, however, are not individuals, but
corporations; and corporations, it is very well known, have neither
bodies to be kicked nor souls to be damned.

I was making money at this business when, in an evil moment, I was
induced to merge it in the Cur-Spattering--a somewhat analogous, but, by
no means, so respectable a profession. My location, to be sure, was an
excellent one, being central, and I had capital blacking and brushes. My
little dog, too, was quite fat and up to all varieties of snuff. He
had been in the trade a long time, and, I may say, understood it. Our
general routine was this:--Pompey, having rolled himself well in
the mud, sat upon end at the shop door, until he observed a dandy
approaching in bright boots. He then proceeded to meet him, and gave the
Wellingtons a rub or two with his wool. Then the dandy swore very much,
and looked about for a boot-black. There I was, full in his view, with
blacking and brushes. It was only a minute's work, and then came a
sixpence. This did moderately well for a time;--in fact, I was not
avaricious, but my dog was. I allowed him a third of the profit, but he
was advised to insist upon half. This I couldn't stand--so we quarrelled
and parted.

I next tried my hand at the Organ-Grinding for a while, and may say that
I made out pretty well. It is a plain, straightforward business, and
requires no particular abilities. You can get a music-mill for a mere
song, and to put it in order, you have but to open the works, and give
them three or four smart raps with a hammer. In improves the tone of the
thing, for business purposes, more than you can imagine. This done