“‘Tom,’ said the landlady, ‘here the wardens a-comin’. If they find thee here, lad, or meet thee goin’ out, thou wilt be fined, and me too; and it may give my hoose a bad name. Coom up stairs, and I will shew thee through the hoose, while they examine the tap and the parlour.’ “So saying, Tom the mechanic followed the hostess from room to room, wondering at what he saw; for the furniture, as he said to himself, was like a nobleman’s, and he marvelled how such things could be; and while he did so, he contrasted the splendour he beheld around him with the poverty and wretchedness of his own garret. And, after shewing him through several rooms, she at last, with a look of importance, ushered him into what she called _the drawing-room_—but, now-a-days, drawing-rooms have become as common as gooseberries, and every house with three rooms and a kitchen has one. Poor Tom the mechanic was amazed as he beheld the richly-coloured and fancy-figured carpet; he was afraid to tread on it—and, indeed, he was told to clean his feet well before he did so. But he was more astonished when he beheld a splendid mirror, with a brightly gilded and carved frame, which reached almost from the ceiling to the floor, and in which he beheld his person, covered with his worn-out and un-holiday-like habiliments, from top to toe, though they were his only suit. Yet more was he amazed, when the ostentatious mistress of the house, opening what appeared to him a door in the wall, displayed to him rows of shining silver plate. Ha raised his eyes, he lifted up his hands—‘Lack! Ma’am!’ says he, ‘how d’ye get all these mighty fine things?’ “And the landlady, laughing at his simplicity, said—‘Why, lad, by fools’ pennies to be sure.’ “But the words ‘fools’ pennies’ touched his heart as if a sharp instrument had pierced it; and he thought unto himself, ‘I am one of those fools;’ and he turned away and left the house with the words written upon his conscience; and, as he went, he made a vow unto himself that, until that day twelve months, he would neither enter the house he had left, nor any other house of a similar description—but that on that day twelve months he would visit it again. When he went home, his wife was surprised at his homecoming; for it was seldom he returned during the day. He had two shillings left; and taking them from his pocket, he gave them to one of his daughters, desiring her to go out and purchase a quartern loaf and a quantity of tea, sugar, and butter. His wife was silent from wonder. He took her hand and said—‘Why, thou seemest to wonder at me, old lass; but I tell thee what—I have had a lesson this mornin’ that I shan’t forget; and when thou findest me throwing away even a penny again, I will give thee liberty to call me by any name thou likes.’