XVII.

Ir may be that I am noticing too many characters, but my readers will not have a good variety of Merrimack life if I do not here give some account of the Puffit family, who may be remembered as having visited our mill. I never had a formal introduction to the Puffits, and could not reckon them amongst my friends, and yet, by this time, I think I knew them tolerably well. So distinguished a family of" first citizens were certain to be known, even by many who were strangers to them. Mr. Olney gave me the history of Mr. Puffit, and the account so impressed me, I find that I wrote it down in my diary as I received it from his lips:

"Newt and I," (Mr. Puffit's christian name was Isaac Newton,)" Newt and I," said he, were school-fellows, and neighbors' sons, and I ought to know something about him. His father was a salt-boiler in Salina, New York, and there he got acquainted with the Blebs. I always honored the old man for his calling-at least I did not regard him with any dishonor on that account,-why should I? In other respects, he was not so reputable, for he loved rum and cider a great deal too well, for which, of course, Newt was not to blame. But I used to like Uncle

Ned Puffit, he had such an honest old heart, and he told such capital stories, and I have drawn many a mug of cider for him in my father's cellar. The old woman had a great deal of the swagger about her, and she was not careful to conceal the shame she felt that they were poor, and her husband boiled salt for a living. They had a dozen children, nearly of a piece, and all but two girls taking after Aunt Jerusha. Newt was the eldest, and he and I used to play together at school. He was the dullest lout we had among us. He could not spell baker with the book before him, and yet he was always using bigger words than could be found in the dictionary. I remember how he read the story of the Young Saucebox,' in Webster's spelling-book; and also his reading of this sentence' hens cackle and cluck, horses neigh, whales spout, birds fly in the air,' or something like it; which he drawled out in this manner-' hens cackle and cluck horses, nay, whales spout birds,' and so on. About the only book he has read since he became a man, is the Life of Bonaparte. He makes an idol of old Bonie, and has his statue of plaster at his door, and his picture in his finest parlor.

Well, Newt was always trying to cut a figure, and telling what he would do, and how he would make the world stare when he went for himself, and accomplished his designs. He was a great fellow for the girls, and I never could divine how he managed to get such a wife as he has, for the girls made the gayest sport of him, and gave him the sack at spelling schools and apple bees a hundred times. I cannot fancy how he managed to get

such a wife. She was a fine, modest, intelligent girl-as she is a fine woman now; and was of a family altogether above him. However, he got her.

"As I was going to say, Hickory Hall has been in him ever since he crept, and having a good deal of shrewdness and business talent, he always succeeded in making a good bargain. He commenced for himself selling the Life of Jack Miller, on the ground, when that fellow was hanged.

Then he

From that he went to peddling essences. bought out a puppet showman, and went around as Mr. I. Newton Puffit, exhibiting the Babes in the Woods, and Punchinello. Then he ran up a striped pole, and did shaving and shampooing. Then he managed a travelling theatre, I believe; and changed from that into the proprietorship of a line of stages between Merrimack and Meadowvale; and went on from one thing to another till he set up a little shop of ready-made clothing in Milkstreet, and from that he has grown to the great I. Newton Puffit,' as they call him ;-the rich manufacturer, (though every thing he has is mortgaged, and he spends the most of his income for puffs and advertisements,) whose store occupies a hundred feet square, and whose name is known throughout New England. He has a fine wife, I will say that, she is a fine-hearted and intelligent woman, not at all vain of her splendid house or her swaggering husband's fame. They have a son, they tell me, who is likely to make a man. But Arrahbellah,' as Newt calls his daughter, is a real Jerusha Puffit, and

it will not be her own fault if she is not as high and famous as her father."

Others told me about the same story of this great family, and I passed Mr. Puffit's place every day, and had a chance to observe both himself and his business. He had a splendid establishment. It was an immense building, three or four stories high, with two large wings, and I think a long back extension. I remember the long counters, that used to look as though they ran to a point in the rear distance, and what endless avenues of lamps flamed and glittered above them. I remember the army of clerks that ran at his beck, and the crowds of women that came in to take and deliver work; and their haggard faces distressed me, while I was more thankful at the same time that I was receiving better wages. I can see him now, as he marched among his dependents, taking the airs of his favorite hero, clasping his hands behind him, or thrusting one into his bosom, as he paced his store, and fancying himself, as some already called him, the Napoleon of manufacturers. His large windows were hung with advertisements, which were punctuated with exclamation points, and written with words no smaller than “extra," "superb," "magnificent," and "excelsior." excelsior." I was reminded of what Mr. Olney once remarked, that liquor dealers, quacks, and upstarts in our country monopolized the largest words, wore the grandest apparel, and lived in the most gorgeous houses; while the truly good and great, were simple amid luxury, and more elegant than gorgeous in the style of their costliest things.

This distinguished gentleman sent a wagon up and

down the streets, with pictures of his establishment and proclamations of his goods. He resided in one of the most fashionable houses in the city. He had the finest horses and carriages, and smoked the best cigars. He attended every fair and festival that was likely to go off with a grand success. He was the most conspicuous citizen at a concert, lecture or play. He walked at the most fashionable hour, in the most fashionable place. He waved his hand and tipped his hat to every fast man and woman, who recognized him, and he was fond of calling the highest by their christian names. He always attended church in the morning with his family, and attracted all eyes by his stately step and swelling form, as he walked down the aisle. If he stopped in a new place to introduce his business, he quoted the most popular clergyman in town, and said, my friend, Doctor So-and-so-he's a fine fellow,-how is he?" He displayed the proudest banner and most pompous motto on all grand procession days. He sported the most gorgeous costume at the Newport fancy balls He received the most compliments from the either-side press of any man in New England, and his advertisements were read in the journals of every party and sect. He always praised a sermon that hit off the old Pharisees, and told what infamous persons Pharaoh, Herod, Judas, and Ananias were. He was very officious when a new minister was settled, and often told his brethren what prudent and exemplary people a minister and his wife should be. He always nodded at the lyceum lectures, which he found it for his interest to