ruffle my temper, and mar good feelings in all the company. Just
see what he provoked me to do this evening. I might have killed
the child. It makes my blood run cold to think of it! Yes, sir--he
must stay away. If no better can be done, I'll hire a man to stand
at the door and keep him out."

"He never troubled you at the mill," said I. "No man was required
at the mill door?"

"No!" And the landlord gave emphasis to the word by an oath,
ejaculated with a heartiness that almost startled me. I had not
heard him swear before. "No; the great trouble was to get him and
keep him there, the good-for-nothing, idle fellow!"

"I am afraid," I ventured to suggest, "that things don't go on
quite so smoothly here as they did at the mill. Your customers are
of a different class."

"I don't know about that; why not?" He did not just relish my
remark.

"Between quiet, thrifty, substantial farmers, and drinking bar-
room loungers, are many degrees of comparison."

"Excuse me, sir!" Simon Slade elevated his person. "The men who
visit my bar-room, as a general thing, are quite as respectable,
moral, and substantial as any who came to the mill--and I believe
more so. The first people in the place, sir, are to be found here.
Judge Lyman and Judge Hammond; Lawyer Wilks and Doctor Maynard;
Mr. Grand and Mr. Lee; and dozens of others--all our first people.