The swine driver replied, that disappointment, and the malice of
enemies, and the false reports of evil minded damsels, had reduced
him to poverty, and poverty had forced him into the trade of swine
selling, which he followed in the hope of getting a living that
would be acceptable to heaven. An air of deeper sadness now
overshadowed his countenance, and raising the coarse straw hat from
his head, he wiped the sweat from his safron-colored brow, and
heaved a sigh. The major having introduced me to the herdsman as the
greatest politician Cape Cod had ever given the world, drew forth
his never failing flask, which he said contained a panacea for all
ills of the mind, and enjoined him to partake. The man exhibited no
timidity in accepting the invitation, for having taken two or three
swallows, he smacked his lips in approval, and said, he already felt
it mellowing his temper. He then searched in his wallet, and finding
some crusts and a ham bone, threw them to his dog, who generously
shared them with his companion, the pig. This done, we took seats by
the roadside, while the drover began, in brief, to recount his
troubles.

Educated for a divine, he took orders, and for a series of years
preached with much success to his congregation and honor to himself.
At length an evil day came, and with it a spirit of malice that
leveled its shafts at his bachelorhood, crept into his church.
Unfortunately he had declared his determination not to marry in the
presence of several venerable matrimony-mongers, and the result
was, that so many slanders were got up against him, that his church
became a bed of thorns continually pricking him. "My heart, which
heaven can bear witness, is tender enough, became overburdened with
grief," said he, his eyes filling with tears, as he wiped the sweat