Addressing a few words of heartfelt gratitude to his
benefactress, he mounted the green cart and rode out of town, under
a discharge of artillery from the schoolboys, who found plenty of
ammunition in the neighboring clay-pits and mud-holes. As he turned
his head to exchange a farewell glance with Mr. Higginbotham's
niece, a ball, of the consistence of hasty pudding, hit him slap in
the mouth, giving him a most grim aspect. His whole person was so
bespattered with the like filthy missiles, that he had almost a mind
to ride back, and supplicate for the threatened ablution at the town
pump; for, though not meant in kindness, it would now have been a deed
of charity.
However, the sun shone bright on poor Dominicus, and the mud, an
emblem of all stains of undeserved opprobrium, was easily brushed
off when dry. Being a funny rogue, his heart soon cheered up; nor
could he refrain from a hearty laugh at the uproar which his story had
excited. The handbills of the selectmen would cause the commitment
of all the vagabonds in the State; the paragraph in the Parker's Falls
Gazette would be reprinted from Maine to Florida, and perhaps form
an item in the London newspapers; and many a miser would tremble for
his money bags and life, on learning the catastrophe of Mr.
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