"This is great sport! I haven't been to a good sale for several years. That old man has knocked his fist upon every chair and table, has tested every piece of furniture, has opened all the bureau drawers, even the case of the old clock, and just a moment ago he rocked the cradle furiously to convince himself that it is in good working condition. Here he comes with a pewter plate in his hand--let's hear what he has to say about it." The old man's cracked harsh voice rose above the confusion of other sounds as he leaned against a table near Phœbe and Phares and spoke to another man: "Here now, Eph, is one of them pewter plates that folks fuss so about just now, and I hear they put them in their dinin'-rooms along the wall! Why, when I was a boy my granny had a lot of 'em and we'd knock 'em around any way. Ha, ha," he laughed loudly, "I can tell you a good one, Eph, about one of them pewter dishes." He slapped the plate against his knee, but the thud was instantly drowned by his quick, "Ach, Jimminy, I hit myself pretty hard that time! But I'll tell you about it, Eph. You heard of the fellows from the city who go around the country hunting up old relics, all old truck, and sell it again in the city? Well, one of them fellows come to my house the other week and asked if I had anything old-fashioned I would sell. Now if Lizzie'd been home we might got rid of some of the old things we have on the garret, but I was alone and I didn't know what I dared sell--you know how the women is. So I said, 'What kind of old things do you want?' "'Oh,' he said, 'I buy old furniture, dishes, linen, pewter----' "'Pewter?' I said. 'Who wants that?' "'There is a great demand for it,' he said, 'and I will give you a good price for any you have.' "'Well,' I laughed, 'I have just one piece of pewter.' "'Where is it?' "'Why, the cats have been eating out of it for a few years.' "'May I see it?' he asks. "So I took him out to the barn and showed him the big pewter bowl the cats eat out of and he said, 'I'll give you fifty cents for that dish.' "Gosh, I said to him, 'Mister, I was just fooling with you. I know you don't want a cat-dish.' "But he said again, 'I'll give you fifty cents for that dish.'