speech or sentiment; and his form grew insensibly erect, and his eye glistened proudly, as he freely and fully assented to the measure which promised such an abundant harvest.  Vainly did the despairing and dispirited pedler implore a different judgment; the huge box which capped the body of his travelling vehicle, torn from its axle, without any show of reverential respect for screw or fastening, was borne in a moment through the capacious entrance of the hall, and placed conspicuously upon the table.

“The key, Bunce, the key!” was the demand of a dozen.

The pedler hesitated for a second, and the pause was fatal.  Before he could redeem his error, a blow from a hatchet settled the difficulty, by distributing the fine deal-box cover, lock and hinges, in fragments over the apartment.  The revelation of wares and fabrics—­a strange admixture, with propriety designated “notions”—­brought all eyes immediately around, and rendered a new order, for common convenience, necessary in the arrangement of the company.  The chairman, chair and man, were in a moment raised to a corresponding elevation upon the table, over the collection; and the controversy and clamor, from concentrating, as it did before, upon the person of the pedler, were now transferred to the commodities he brought for sale.  Order having been at length obtained, Colonel Blundell undertook the assertion of his own and the wrongs of his fellow-sufferers, and kept uninterrupted possession of the floor.

“And now, Mr. Chairman, I will jist go a little into the particulars of the rogueries and rascalities of this same Yankee.  Now, in the first place, he is a Yankee, and that’s enough, itself, to bring him to punishment—­but we’ll let that pass, and go to his other transactions—­for, as I reckon, it’s quite punishment enough for that offence, to be jist what he is.  He has traded rotten stuffs about the country, that went to pieces the first washing.  He has traded calico prints, warranted for fast colors, that ran faster than he ever ran himself.  He has sold us tin stuffs, that didn’t stand hot water at all; and then thinks to get off, by saying they were not made for our climate.  And let me ask, Mr. Chairman, if they wasn’t made for our climate, why did he bring ’em here? let him come to the scratch, and answer that, neighbors—­but he can’t.  Well, then, as you’ve all hearn, he has traded clocks to us at money’s worth, that one day ran faster than a Virginny race-mare, and at the very next day, would strike lame, and wouldn’t go at all, neither for beating nor coaxing—­and besides all these doings, neighbors, if these an’t quite enough to carry a skunk to the horsepond, he has committed his abominations without number, all through the country high and low—­for hain’t he lied and cheated, and then had the mean cowardice to keep out of the way of the regilators, who have been on the look-out for his tracks for the last half year?  Now, if these things an’t desarving