"DOWN AT THE STORE" 199 



ing " Mart " So-and-So's of our village ; or 

 possibly (and this I liked best of all, I 

 think), the conversation would flag, and old 

 Jason Andcut would begin whistling softly 

 to himself. Then I was all ears. Such a 

 tone as he had, especially in the lower regis- 

 ter ! And such trills and bewitching turns 

 of melody! Why, it was almost as good 

 as the Weymouth Band, which in those days 

 was every whit as famous as the Boston 

 Symphony Orchestra is now. When it 

 played the " Wood-up Quickstep " or " De- 

 parted Days," the whole town was moved, 

 and one boy that I knew was almost in 

 heaven. 



In fact, ours was a musical community. 

 The very man who now occupied the arm- 

 chair in front of the stove (how plainly he 

 comes before me as I write, taking snuff and 

 reading the shopkeeper's newspaper of the 

 evening before) had acquired the competency 

 of which he was supposed to be possessed by 

 playing the flute (or was it the clarinet ?) 

 in a Boston theatre orchestra ; and at this 

 very minute three younger men of the village 

 were getting rich in the same sure and easy 



