The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe (Musaicum Christmas Specials). Amanda M. Douglas

      "So you're here?" with a kind of indignant sniff.

      "Yes. What will you have?"

      There was a twinkle in Joe's eye, and an odd little pucker to his lips, as if he were remembering something.

      "You needn't be so impudent."

      "I?" and Joe flushed in surprise.

      "Yes. You're a saucy lot, the whole of you."

      With that Mrs. Van Wyck began to saunter round.

      "What's the price of these cranberries?"

      "Eighteen cents," in his most respectful tone.

      "They're dear, dreadful dear. Over to Windsor you can get as many as you can carry for a shillin' a quart."

      Joe was silent.

      "Say sixteen."

      "I couldn't," replied Joe. "If Mr. Terry were here"—

      "There's Father Terry." She raised her voice a little. "Father Terry, come and look at these cranberries. They're a poor lot, and you'll do well to get a shillin' a quart."

      Joe ran his fingers through them. Plump and crimson, very nice he thought for so late in the season.

      "I don't s'pose I'd get more'n two good quarts out of three. They'll spile on your hands. Come now, be reasonable."

      Father Terry looked undecided. Joe watched him, thinking in his heart that he ought not fall a penny.

      "Say a shillin'."

      The old man shook his head.

      "Well, fifteen cents. I want three quarts, and I won't give a penny more."

      The old gentleman studied Joe's face, which was full of perplexity.

      "Well," he said with some reluctance.

      Joe measured them. Mrs. Van Wyck gave each quart a "settle" by shaking it pretty hard, and Joe had to put in another large handful.

      "Now I want some cheese."

      The pound weighed two ounces over.

      "You can throw that in. Mr. Terry always does."

      "How much?"

      "Twenty-three cents."

      "No: you can't fool me, youngster. I never pay more than twenty cents."

      "I'm sure Mr. Terry told me that it was twenty-three."

      Father was appealed to again, and of course went over to the domineering enemy.

      Then two pounds of butter passed through the same process of cheapening. Joe began to lose his temper. Afterward a broom, some tape and cotton, and finally a calico dress.

      "Now, here's three dozen eggs for part pay. They're twenty-four cents a dozen."

      "Why, that's what we sell them for," said astonished Joe, mentally calculating profit and loss.

      "Oh! they've gone up. Hetty Collins was paid twenty-five over to Windsor. I'd gone there myself if I'd had a little more time."

      "I wish you had," ejaculated Joe inwardly.

      She haggled until she got her price, and the settlement was made.

      "She's a regular old screwer," said Joe rather crossly. "I don't believe it was right to let her have those things in that fashion."

      "All things work together for good."

      "For her good, it seems."

      Father Terry went back to his post by the stove. Joe breathed a little thanksgiving that Flossy was not Mrs. Van Wyck's maid-of-all-work.

      Joe's next customer was Dave Downs, as the boys called him. He shuffled up to the counter.

      "Got any reel good cheese?"

      "Yes," said Joe briskly.

      "Let's see."

      Joe raised the cover. Dave took up the knife, and helped himself to a bountiful slice.

      "Got any crackers?"

      "Yes," wondering what Dave meant.

      "Nice and fresh?"

      "I guess so."

      "I'll take three or four."

      "That will be a penny's worth."

      When Dave had the crackers in his hand he said, raising his shaggy brows in a careless manner,—

      "Oh! you needn't be so perticelar."

      Then he took a seat beside Father Terry, and munched crackers and cheese. "Cool enough," thought Joe.

      Old Mrs. Skittles came next. She was very deaf, and talked in a high, shrill key, as if she thought all the world in the same affliction.

      She looked at every thing, priced it, beat down a cent or two, and then concluded she'd rather wait until Mr. Terry came in. At last she purchased a penny's worth of snuff, and begged Joe to give her good measure.

      After that two customers and the mail. Father Terry bestirred himself, and waited upon a little girl with a jug.

      Joe was rather glad to see Mr. Terry enter, for he had an uncomfortable sense of responsibility.

      "Trade been pretty good, Joe?" with a smile.

      "I've put it all down on the slate, as you told me."

      "Hillo! What's this!"

      A slow stream of something dark was running over the floor back of the lower counter.

      "Oh, molasses!" and with a spring Joe shut off the current, but there was an ominous pool.

      "I did not get that: it was"—and Joe turned crimson.

      "Father. We never let him go for molasses, vinegar, oil, or burning fluid. He is sure to deluge us. Run round in the kitchen, and get a pail and a mop."

      "It's my opinion that this doesn't work together for good," said Joe to himself as he was cleaning up the mess.

      "So you had Mrs. Skittles?" exclaimed Mr. Terry with a laugh. "And Mrs. Van Wyck. Why, Joe!"

      "She beat down awfully!" said Joe; "and she wanted every thing thrown in. Mr. Terry"—

      "She called on father, I'll be bound. But she has taken off all the profits; and then to make you pay twenty-four cents for the eggs."

      "I'd just like to have had my own way. If you'll give me leave"—

      "You will have to look out a little for father. He's getting old, you know; and these sharp customers are rather too much for him."

      "I'll never fall a penny again;" and Joe shook his head defiantly.

      "You will learn by degrees. But it is never necessary to indulge such people. There's the dinner-bell."

      Dave Downs had finished his crackers and cheese, and now settled himself to a comfortable nap. Joe busied himself by clearing up a little, giving out mail, and once weighing some flour. Then he discovered that he had scattered it over his trousers, and that with the molasses dabs it made a not very delightful mixture. So he took a seat on a barrel-head and began to scrub it off; but he found it something like Aunt Jemima's plaster.

      "Run in and get some dinner, Joe," said Mr. Terry after his return to the store.

      "But I was going home," replied Joe bashfully.

      "Oh! never mind. We will throw in the dinner."

      So Joe ran around, but hesitated at the door of Mrs. Terry's clean kitchen. She was motherly and cordial, however, and gave him a bright smile.

      "I told Mr. Terry that you might as well come in here for your dinner. It is quite a long run home."

      "You are very kind," stammered Joe, feeling that he must say something,