1834
TWICE-TOLD TALES
MR. HIGGINBOTHAM'S CASTROPHE
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
A YOUNG FELLOW, a tobacco pedlar by trade, was on his way from
Morristown, where he had dealt largely with the Deacon of the Shaker
settlement, to the village of Parker's Falls, on Salmon River. He
had a neat little cart, painted green, with a box of cigars depicted
on each side panel, and an Indian chief, holding a pipe and a golden
tobacco stalk, on the rear. The pedlar drove a smart little mare,
and was a young man of excellent character, keen at a bargain, but
none the worse liked by the Yankees: who, as I have heard them say,
would rather be shaved with a sharp razor than a dull one.
Especially was he beloved by the pretty girls along the Connecticut,
whose favor he used to court by presents of the best smoking tobacco
in his stock; knowing well that the country lasses of New England
are generally great performers on pipes. Moreover, as will be seen
in the course of my story, the pedlar was inquisitive, and something
of a tattler, always itching to hear the news and anxious to tell it
again.
After an early breakfast at Morristown, the tobacco pedlar, whose
name was Dominicus Pike, had travelled seven miles through a
solitary piece of woods, without speaking a word to anybody but
himself and his little gray mare.
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