was needlessly frightened, seemed equally plain; that he was
chagrined when bystanders laughed at his exhibition, was highly
probable.

Now law is the business of a lawyer; it is his refuge in trouble
and at the same time his source of revenue; and it is a poor
lawyer who cannot make his refuge pay a little something every
time it affords him consolation for real or fancied injury.

In this case the lawyer collected exactly sixty cents' worth of
consolation,--two quarters and a dime, the price of two lunches
and a cup of coffee, or a dozen "Pittsfield Stogies," if there be
so fragrant a brand;--the lay mind cannot grasp the possibilities
of two quarters and a ten-cent piece in the strong and resourceful
grasp of a Pittsfield lawyer. In these thrifty New England towns
one always gets a great many pennies in change; small money is the
current coin; great stress is set upon a well-worn quarter, and a
dime is precious in the sight of the native.

It so happened that just about the time of our arrival, the
machinery of justice in and about Pittsfield was running a little
wild anyway.

In an adjoining township, on the same day, ex-President Cleveland,
who was whiling away time in the philosophic pursuit of fishing,
was charged with catching and retaining longer than the law
allowed a bass which was a quarter of an inch under the legal
limit of eight inches. Now in the excitement of the moment that
bass no doubt felt like a whale to the great man, and as it neared
the surface, after the manner of its kind, it of course looked as