[figure description] Page 326.[end figure description]

“How do you like the bustle and confusion of Boston?”
asked the shop-keeper, as Mrs. Partington stood
by the counter.

“It gives me confusion to see 'em,” said the old lady;
“folks did n't do so when I was a girl; and, besides,
what an awful sight of bran and cotton it takes, to say
nothing of their awkwardness when they get slipped on
one side” —

“I mean,” broke in the shopkeeper, “the bustle and
confusion of the streets.”

“O,” said Mrs. P., “that is quite another thing!”
and immediately left the store.

The steak was terrible tough one morning, and Old
Roger worked away at it in silence. At length his
patience and masticators gave out; turning to the landlady,
“Madam,” said he, “your boarders should all
have been umpires at horse-races.”

“Why so?” said she, coloring highly.

“Because, being accustomed to `tender stakes,' they
would have none of the difficulty that I experience; they
could obviate it.”

It was an unpardonable thing in him, thus to expose
her before all the boarders, and she thought the outrage
more than offset the tough meat.

p677-360

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