THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 2?o 







echoed from one end of the land to the other, Sh ce you 

 have been gone, three letters have come about pickles, 

 and Seth Twiggs and Jake Frink have been in, and I guess 

 Mr. Spooner has a touch of the fever, for he preached 

 Sunday about the Lodge in a Garden of Cucumbers.&quot; 1 



I had not more than got done supper when Seth Twiggs 

 made his appearance in a cloud of very blue smoke, and 

 he had n t got the first question fairly out before Jake 

 Frink and Kier from the White Oaks knocked at the 

 door, and Dea. Smith and Jeremiah Sparrowgrass follow 

 ed. Thinks I to myself, I guess I shall have a meetin to 

 night, whether the minister does or not. It was lecture 

 night, and I suppose the Deacon stopped in on his way. 

 I am afraid he did n t hear the bell, for he did n t start 

 when it had done tolling. 



&quot; Now,&quot; said Seth Twiggs, bringing his pipe down on 

 his knee with an emphasis that would have smashed it if 

 had been worth anything, &quot; Du ye really think three hun 

 dred dollars can be made on an acre of good Hooker- 

 town meadow, in pickles ? &quot; 



4 Is it clean cash ? &quot; asked Jake Frink with a dubious 

 look. &quot; Them fellers as deals in pickles is apt to be kind 

 of sharp.&quot; 



&quot; Du ye think there is any chance for us up in White 

 Oaks, Squire, to go into pickle business ? &quot; inquired Kier 

 Frink, the hopeful son of Jake. 



&quot; Fellow-citizens,&quot; says I, &quot; don t all talk at once, and 

 I ll try and answer your questions. I ve got three letters 

 come in to-day s mail, on the pickle business, and I 

 haven t had time to digest them yet. The policy of going 

 into the cucumber trade depends altogether upon the 

 facility of a market. You might grow cucumbers well 

 enough in Iowa, but if you had to send them to New 

 York to market, it would n t pay very well even at two 

 dollars a hundred. A man must be within a short dis 

 tance of a pickle factory if he purposes to deliver his crop 



