MARCH. 51 



from eitlier purpose, there is occasionally the opportunity 

 of studying one phase at least of early colonial life well 

 worthy of attention. When there is a considerable offer- 

 ing of household goods, one gets a glimpse of the past 

 more vivid than any mere description of the historian. 

 Some rickety chair, tarnished andirons, battered pewter, 

 a string of shoe-buckles, warped and worm-eaten books — 

 the outpourings of a dusty garret and a damp cellar — an 

 omnium gatherum that has been two centuries in growing. 

 Think of such a display brought again to the sunlight ! 

 The imagination must indeed be sluggish that can not by 

 such aid recall the earnest folk who settled in the wilder- 

 ness. 



All such sales as these are worth a day's attendance, 

 even though you dine on peanuts and that mysterious 

 compound, a sutler's oyster stew. But be not too eager 

 to bid. To purchase what you really wish and nothing 

 else ; to get for a dime what is really worth a dollar — this, 

 I now believe, is one of the fine arts ; so far as I am con- 

 cerned, one of the lost arts. 



My last attendance proved so unsatisfactory, if not 

 worse, that I have declared my intention of ignoring ven- 

 dues in the future. I was tempted by the wording of the 

 poster, and, in spite of the bad roads and detestable 

 weather, gave half a day to colonial furniture and all the 

 belongings of a well-appointed house of those rare old 

 days. Other and more enthusiastic lovers of such things 

 were also there, and I always bid in vain. By dimes and dol- 

 lars every desired object went just out of reach. I felt a 

 little sore at my ill luck, and, fool that I was, determined 

 not to return home empty-handed. I have wondered 

 since if the auctioneer read my thoughts. Be this as it 

 may, I stood by the remaining heaps of worthless refuse 

 cunningly packed in broken basins and sieve-like milk- 

 pans. I saw no gem that had been inadvertently cast 



