At a Public Sale. 



It is not so very long ago that I swore off, in the 

 matter of attendance upon public sales. I was 

 always victimized, and finally became disgruntled. 

 But many an Ephraim, not joined to his idols, oc- 

 casionally takes a sly backward glance. It was so 

 recently. A huge red flag was fluttering opposite 

 the door of Smalltown's oldest dwelling-house. 

 Furniture that had been in use since the Revolu- 

 tion, and a few odd pieces for nearly a century 

 prior to those stirring times, were now to be sold. 

 Even into this Smalltown house had drifted a 

 " Mayflower" chest, and a bed upon which Wash- 

 ington had slept. Little wonder that every family 

 of this inland village was well represented in the 

 crowd of expectant buyers. 



That red flag at the door merely announced in 

 four words a public sale, but he is wise who reads 



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