Village and Other Tales (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1851 edition. Excerpt: ...Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise THE IND. Ma. Bnscwnm. and Mr. Worthy happened to meet last year at Weyhill fair. They were glad to see each other, as they had but seldom met of late; Mr. Bragwell having removed some years before from Mr. Worth 's neighborhood, to a distant village. Mr. hragwell was a substantial farmer and grazier. He had risen in the world by what worldly men call a run of good fortune. He had also been a man of great industry; that is, he had paid a diligent and constant attention to his own interest. He understood business, and had a knack of turning almost everything to his own advantage. He had that sort of sense which good men call cunning, and knaves call wisdom. He was too prudent ever to do anything so wrong that the law could take hold of him; yet he was not over scrupulous about the morality of an action, when the prospect of enriching himself by it was very great, and the chance of hurting his character was small. The corn he sent home to his customers was not always quite so goodas the samples he had produced at market; and he now and then forgot to name some capital blemish in the horses he sold at fair. He scorned to be guilty of the pretty frauds of cheating in weights and measures, for he thought that was a beggarly sin; but he valued himself on his skill in making a bargain, and fancied it showed his superior knowledge of the world to take advantage of the ignorance of a dealer. It was his constant rule to undervalue everything he was about to buy, and to overvalue everything he was about to sell 2 but as he seldom lost sight of his discretion, he avoided everything that was very shameful; so that he was considered merely as a hard dealer, and a keen hand at a...