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 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 Stamford . '' `` We 'll come among them in procession , with music and dancing , '' cried the merry damsel . Accordingly -- for it must be understood that our pilgrimage was to be performed on foot -- we sallied joyously out of the wagon , each of us , even the old gentleman in his white-top boots , giving a great skip as we came down the ladder . Above our heads there was such a glory of sunshine and splendor of clouds , and such brightness of verdure below , that , as I modestly remarked at the time , Nature seemed to have washed her face , and put on the best of her jewelry and a fresh green gown , in honor of our confederation . Casting our eyes northward , we beheld a horseman approaching leisurely , and splashing through the little puddles on the Stamford road . Onward he came , sticking up in his saddle with rigid perpendicularity , a tall , thin figure in rusty black , whom the showman and the conjurer shortly recognized to be , what his aspect sufficiently indicated , a travelling preacher of great fame among the Methodists .
What puzzled us was the fact , that his face appeared turned XXXXX , instead of to , the camp-meeting at Stamford .
across as at from in into of over though through