“Mine host of the Astor, who was a shrewd fellow, thought the character of his house damaged, and must needs consult his honor, the Mayor.  That high functionary, knowing the agility with which such heroes as Fopp exercised their heels, gave out no encouragement of catching the rascal.  Had it been a scamp, who by his winning manners deceives inconsolable widows, seduces artless damsels, and otherwise exercises his skill in the art of fascinating females, his Honor had been after him with all the courage of his police force.  But as it was merely taking in a stranger, the matter, his Honor thought, had better be stopped, since the degree and quality of the crime was so like that known as ‘sharp practice’ in Wall street, that to punish one and let another go free would only be manifesting a strange disregard of equal justice.  And the landlord was too shrewd a fellow not to know that to employ detectives, who were costly men to move, would entail an expense greater than the sum lost, without mending the damaged reputation of his house.  I therefore contented myself with the satisfaction of having had my character restored to me by the newspapers.

“A different turn now came in my affairs, and finding it was only a harmless custom of the editors to make splinters of a great public man, I invited them to a sumptuous dinner, which they set upon with an appetite equaled only by that displayed by them while devouring my character.  But, on the whole, they were a jolly set of fellows -quite as jolly as one could desire.  If they entertained a magnificent dislike for one another, it was to be set down to a spirit of commercial rivalry, which, though it might work out good in some instances, was of itself to be deplored, inasmuch as it had nothing in common with that generosity of soul which should rule universal among men of letters.”

I found the dinner a specific antidote for a bruised character, for no sooner had my literary friends eaten it than they were ready to outdo one another in saying good things of me.  One cunning fellow told his readers that the election of General Harrison was entirely owing to the wisdom I had distilled into the minds of the people of Cape Cod.  And though I never had even scented the perfumery of war, another said that as a military man I had no superior.  Concerning my mission, they were all sure no testimony they could bear would add one jot to my transcendent ability for representing the nation abroad.  The government could not make so great a mistake as to overlook me.

“Heaven having given the editors great success in their arduous business of restoring me to favor, I was received at once into the embraces of fashionable society.  Brown, who digs graves for departed sinners, and provides the parties of our aristocracy with distinguished people, called to inquire what evenings I was ‘disengaged,’ seeing that he had several openings on his list, which was unusually select ‘this week.’  He secured invitations