"Mirth," cried I, most aptly appropriating the words of L'Allegro, "to
thee I sue! Mirth, admit me of thy crew!"

"Let us indulge the poor youth," said Mirth, with a kindness which
made me love her dearly, though I was no such coxcomb as to
misinterpret her motives. "I have espied much promise in him. True, a
shadow sometimes flits across his brow, but the sunshine is sure to
follow in a moment. He is never guilty of a sad thought, but a merry
one is twin born with it. We will take him with us; and you shall see
that he will set us all a-laughing before we reach the camp-meeting at
Stamford."

Her voice silenced the scruples of the rest, and gained me admittance
into the league; according to the terms of which, without a community
of goods or profits, we were to lend each other all the aid, and avert
all the harm, that might be in our power. This affair settled, a
marvellous jollity entered into the whole tribe of us, manifesting
itself characteristically in each individual. The old showman,
sitting down to his barrel-organ, stirred up the souls of the pygmy
people with one of the quickest tunes in the music-book; tailors,
blacksmiths, gentlemen, and ladies, all seemed to share in the spirit
of the occasion; and the Merry-Andrew played his part more facetiously
than ever, nodding and winking particularly at me. The young
foreigner flourished his fiddle-bow with a master's hand, and gave an
inspiring echo to the showman's melody. The bookish man and the merry
damsel started up simultaneously to dance; the former enacting the
double shuffle in a style which everybody must have witnessed, ere
Election week was blotted out of time; while the girl, setting her
arms akimbo with both hands at her slim waist, displayed such light
rapidity of foot, and harmony of varying attitude and motion, that I