ez he, 'but it
ain't deep-seated nash'nul literature,' sez he. 'Them snips o' funny
stories and short dialogues in the comic papers--they make ye laff,'
sez he, 'but laffin' isn't no sign o' deep morril purpose,' sez he,
'and it ain't genteel and refined. Abraham Linkin with his pat
anecdotes ruined our standin' with dignified nashuns,' sez he. 'We
cultivated publishers is sick o' hearin' furrin' nashuns roarin' over
funny 'Merrikan stories; we're goin' to show 'em that, even ef we
haven't classes and titles and sich, we kin be dull. We're workin' the
historical racket for all that it's worth,--ef we can't go back mor'n a
hundred years or so, we kin rake in a Lord and a Lady when we do, and
we're gettin' in some ole-fashioned spellin' and "methinkses" and
"peradventures." We're doin' the religious bizness ez slick ez Robert
Elsmere, and we find lots o' soul in folks--and heaps o quaint morril
characters,' sez he."

"Sakes alive, Dan'l!" broke in his sister; "what's all that got to do
with your yarn 'bout the hoss trade?"

"Everythin'," returned Dan'l. "'For,' sez he, 'Mr. Borem,' sez he,
'you're a quaint morril character. You've got protracted humor,' sez
he. 'You've bin an hour tellin' that yarn o' yours! Ef ye could spin
it out to fill two chapters of a book--yer fortune's made! For you'll
show that a successful hoss trade involves the highest nash'nul
characteristics. That what common folk calls "selfishness," "revenge,"
"mean lyin'," and "low-down money-grubbin' ambishun" is really
"quaintness," and will go in double harness with the bizness of a
Christian banker,' sez he."

"Created goodness, Dan'l! You're designin' ter"--

Dan'l Borem rose, coughed, expectorated carefully at the usual spot in
the fender, his general custom of indicating the conclusion of a
subject or an interview, and said dryly: "I'm thar!"

II

To return to the writer of the letter, whose career was momentarily cut
off by the episode of the horse trade (who, if he had previously
received a letter written by somebody else would have been an entirely
different person and not in this novel at all): John Lummox--known to
his family as "the perfect Lummox"--had been two years in college, but
thought it rather fine of himself--a habit of thought in which he
frequently indulged--to become a clerk, but finally got tired of it,
and to his father's relief went to Europe for a couple of years,
returning with some knowledge of French and