He has the kindness to give me a home in his house , though I contribute to my own support by teaching a school . I left Kimballton this morning to spend the vacation of commencement-week with a friend about five miles from Parker 's Falls . My generous uncle , when he heard me on the stairs , called me to his bedside and gave me two dollars and fifty cents to pay my stage-fare , and another dollar for my extra expenses . He then laid his pocketbook under his pillow , shook hands with me , and advised me to take some biscuit in my bag instead of breakfasting on the road . I feel confident , therefore , that I left my beloved relative alive , and trust that I shall find him so on my return . '' The young lady courtesied at the close of her speech , which was so sensible and well worded , and delivered with such grace and propriety , that everybody thought her fit to be preceptress of the best academy in the State . But a stranger would have supposed that Mr. Higginbotham was an object of abhorrence at Parker 's Falls and that a thanksgiving had been proclaimed for his murder , so excessive was the wrath of the inhabitants on learning their mistake . The mill-men resolved to bestow public honors on Dominicus Pike , only hesitating whether to tar and feather him , ride him on a rail or refresh him with an ablution at the town-pump , on the top of which he had declared himself the bearer of the news . The selectmen , by advice of the lawyer , spoke of prosecuting him for a misdemeanor in circulating unfounded reports , to the great disturbance of the peace of the commonwealth . Nothing saved Dominicus either from mob-law or a court of justice but an eloquent appeal made by the young lady in his behalf . Addressing a few words of heartfelt gratitude to his benefactress , he mounted the green cart and rode out of town under a discharge of artillery from the schoolboys , who found plenty of ammunition in the neighboring clay-pits and mud-holes . As he turned his head to exchange a farewell glance with Mr. Higginbotham 's niece a ball of the consistence of hasty-pudding hit him slap in the mouth , giving him a most grim aspect . His whole person was so bespattered with the like filthy missiles that he had almost a mind to ride back and supplicate for the threatened ablution at the town-pump ; for , though not meant in kindness , it would now have been a deed of charity . However , the sun shone bright on poor Dominicus , and the mud -- an emblem of all stains of undeserved opprobrium -- was easily brushed off when dry . Being a funny rogue , his heart soon cheered up ; nor could he refrain from a hearty laugh at the uproar which his story had excited . The handbills of the selectmen would cause the commitment of all the vagabonds in the State , the paragraph in the Parker 's Falls Gazette would be reprinted from Maine to Florida , and perhaps form an item in the London newspapers , and many a miser would tremble for his moneybags and life on learning the catastrophe of Mr. Higginbotham . The pedler meditated with much fervor on the charms of the young schoolmistress , and swore that Daniel Webster never spoke nor looked so like an angel as Miss Higginbotham while defending him from the wrathful populace at Parker 's Falls . Dominicus was now on the Kimballton turnpike , having all along determined to visit that place , though business had drawn , him out of the most direct road from Morristown . As he approached the scene of the supposed murder he continued to revolve the circumstances in his mind , and was astonished at the aspect which the whole case assumed . Had nothing occurred to corroborate the story of the first traveller , it might now have been considered as a hoax ; but the yellow man was evidently acquainted either with the report or the fact , and there was a mystery in his dismayed and guilty look on being abruptly questioned .
When to this singular combination of incidents it was added that the rumor tallied exactly with Mr. XXXXX 's character and habits of life , and that he had an orchard and a St. Michael 's pear tree , near which he always passed at nightfall , the circumstantial evidence appeared so strong that Dominicus doubted whether the autograph produced by the lawyer , or even the niece 's direct testimony , ought to be equivalent .
Higginbotham Kimballton Parker Pike clay-pits emblem first morning schoolmistress town-pump