Every honest man should have his livelihood . You , sir , as I take it , are a mere strolling gentleman . '' I proceeded to inform the company , that , when Nature gave me a propensity to their way of life , she had not left me altogether destitute of qualifications for it ; though I could not deny that my talent was less respectable , and might be less profitable , than the meanest of theirs . My design , in short , was to imitate the storytellers 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 viva 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 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 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 afrighting us , till we interpreted them as the war-song , with which , in imitation of his ancestors , he was prefacing the assault on XXXXX .
Stamford barrel-organ book-trade fiddle-bow fortune-teller jigs jollity left music-book scruples