154 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTE... 



executed^ Moses in Hardscrabble ivas. The dulcet 

 sounds ceased. " Miss," said Cash, the moment that 

 he could express himself, so entranced was he by the 

 music, — " Miss Doolittle, what was that instrument Mo 

 Mercer showed me in your gallery once, that went by a 

 crank, and had rollers in it ? " 



It was now the time for Miss Patience to blush ; so 

 away went the blood from confusion to her cheeks ; she 

 hesitated, stammered, and said, " if Mr. Cash must know, 

 it was a — a — a — Yankee ivashing machine y 



The name grated on Mo Mercer's ears as if rusty 

 nails had been thrust into them ; the heretofore invul- 

 nerable Mercer's knees trembled ; the sweat started to 

 his brow as he heard the taunting whispers of " visiting 

 the Capitol twice," and seeing pianos as plenty as wood- 

 chucks. 



The fashionable vices of envy and maliciousness, were 

 that moment sown in the village of Hardscrabble ; and 

 Mo Mercer — the great — the confident — the happy and 

 self-possessed — surprising as it may seem, was the first 

 victim sacrificed to their influence. 



Time wore on, and pianos became common, and Mo 

 Mercer less popular ; and he finally disappeared alto- 

 gether, on the evening of the day on which a Yankee 

 peddler of notions sold, to the highest bidder, *' six pa- 

 tent, warranted, and improved Mo Mercer pianos." 



