286 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



The next time they have occasion to go the village 

 emporium for some small article, where the shop- 

 man and general - utility man serves behind the 

 counter, his hair shining with pomatum, such as 

 is used on country shop-assistants' hair only, "the 

 gals " manage to convey the impression to him 

 before they leave the establishment that he is a 

 fraud, not the genuine article at all, and quite 

 unworthy of their notice after the gentleman that 

 waited on them in the town. After a visit of the 

 kind you may notice that when the country dealer 

 takes off his coat, leaves the counter, and goes 

 into the yard to wash the cart before going his 

 rounds with it, he does it in a vicious manner. 

 Country lasses they may be, but they are true 

 women, and they possess the peculiar faculty that 

 has descended to their sex from the first, that of 

 bringing the so-called sterner one to book, if they 

 think it necessary, in a pretty sharp manner. Let 

 me at once confess that I am a married man, and 

 up to the present time, as all my friends none 

 too many, by the way can affirm, I have gone 

 well in double harness. 



I trust my readers will pardon me for this long 



