"
"Don't return! possible? why, how you talk. Have you done with the
clock trade?"
"I guess I have, it ain't worth follerin' now."
"Most time," said the other, laughing, "for by all accounts the
clocks warn't worth havin', and most infarnal dear too, folks begin
to get their eyes open."
"It warn't needed in your case," said Mr. Slick, with that peculiarly
composed manner, that indicates suppressed feeling, "for you were
always wide awake; if all the folks had cut their eye-teeth as airly
as you did, their'd be plaguy few clocks sold in these parts, I
reckon; but you are right, Squire, you may say that, they actilly
were NOT worth havin', and that's the truth. The fact is," said he,
throwing down his reins, and affecting a most confidential tone, "I
felt almost ashamed of them myself; I tell you. The long and short of
the matter is jist this: they don't make no good ones nowadays, no
more, for they calculate 'em for shippin' and not for home use. I
was all struck up of a heap when I seed the last lot I got from the
States; I was properly bit by them, you may depend--they didn't pay
cost, for I couldn't recommend them with a clear conscience, and I
must say I do like a fair deal, for I'm strait up and down, and love
to go right ahead, that's a fact. Did you ever see them I fetched
when I first came, them I sold over the Bay?"
"No," said Mr.
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