My design , in short , was to imitate the story-tellers of whom Oriental travellers have told us , and become an itinerant novelist , reciting my own extemporaneous fictions to such audiences as I could collect . `` Either this , '' said I , `` is my vocation , or I have been born in vain . '' The fortune-teller , with a sly wink to the company , proposed to take me as an apprentice to one or other of his professions , either of which undoubtedly would have given full scope to whatever inventive talent I might possess . The bibliopolist spoke a few words in opposition to my plan -- influenced partly , I suspect , by the jealousy of authorship , and partly by an apprehension that the vivâ-voce practice would become general among novelists , to the infinite detriment of the book trade . Dreading a rejection , I solicited the interest of the merry damsel . '' ` 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 pigmy 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 could not conceive how she ever was to stop , imagining at the moment that Nature had made her , as the old showman had made his puppets , for no earthly purpose but to dance jigs . The Indian bellowed forth a succession of most hideous outcries , somewhat affrighting us till we interpreted them as the war-song with which , in imitation of his ancestors , he was prefacing the assault on Stamford . The conjurer , meanwhile , sat demurely in a corner extracting a sly enjoyment from the whole scene , and , like the facetious Merry Andrew , directing his queer glance particularly at me . As for myself , with great exhilaration of fancy , I began to arrange and color the incidents of a tale wherewith I proposed to amuse an audience that very evening ; for I saw that my associates were a little ashamed of me , and that no time was to be lost in obtaining a public acknowledgment of my abilities .
`` Come , fellow-laborers , '' at last said the old showman , whom we had elected president ; `` the shower is over , and we must be doing our duty by these poor souls at XXXXX . ''
Andrew Indian L'Allegro Stamford bibliopolist conjurer evening jollity scruples week