ond year, an incident occurred which served to bring out
Hiram's character, and change decidedly the state of affairs. One
morning, while he was engaged with a customer, Mrs. Esterbrook entered
the store. Now, that lady was the wife of Deacon Esterbrook, one of the
most substantial men of the town, and a strong supporter of the Smiths.
In fact, she had never set foot in Mr. Jessup's place before that
morning, but certain goods, lately ordered by the Smiths, were
unaccountably delayed, while Mr. Jessup's were fresh from the city and
just opened. The dress-maker had been engaged, and could not come again
for she did not know how long, and Ellen must have a nice school-dress
ready forthwith. So the lady determined for once to break over rule, and
step into the opposition store. No doubt the fact that so respectable
and pious a young man as Hiram was a clerk there had its influence in
the decision; it made the place itself more reputable, many said. And
now she came slowly in, a little distrustful, as if entering on
forbidden ground, and expecting to see some extraordinary difference
between the place of business of an ungodly person like Jessup and that
of the honest-minded Smith. Thanks, however, to Hiram's persevering
industry, it was a model of neatness and order, and Mrs. Esterbrook, who
was herself a pattern in that way, found her harsh judgment insensibly
relaxing, as she stepped to the counter where Pease stood, and asked
quite amiably to see some of the best calicoes, just in from New-York.
Pease, the narrow-minded idiot, thought this a good time to play off a
smart trick on one of Smith's regular customers. So he paraded a large
variety of goods before her, and took occasion to recommend a very
pretty article, for which he charged a monstrous price, because he said
it was a very scarce pattern, and it was with great difficulty they had
secured a single piece. As the lady herself could perceive, it had not
been opened before; not a soul in the village had even seen the outside
of it. Now, it must not be supposed that Mrs. Esterbrook was different
from the rest of her sex, and insensible to the pleasure of having the
first dress cut from the piece. Indeed, she determined, on this
occasion, to take two dresses instead of one; Emily was coming home, and
would want it. Just as Pease was about to measure off the desired
quantity, Mrs. Esterbrook exclaimed:

'You are sure those colors are fast?'

'Fast, ma'am! fast as t