^It's  the  weather,  father,"  said  Adolphus,  polishing
his  cheeks  on  the  worn  sleeve  of  his  jacket  "  What
with  rain,  and  sleet,  and  wind,  and  snow,  and  fog,  my
face  gets  quite  brought  out  into  a  rash  sometimes.  And
shines,  it  does  —  oh,  don't  it,  though !  **

Master  Adolphus  was  also  in  the  newspaper  line  of
life,  being  employed,  by  a  more  thriving  firm  than  his
father  and  Co.,  to  vend  newspapers  at  a  railway  station,
where  his  chubby  little  person,  like  a  shabbily  disguised
Cupid,  and  his  shrill  little  voice  (he  was  not  much  more
than  ten  years  old),  were  as  well  known  as  the  hoarse
panting  of  the  locomotives,  running  in  and  out  His
juvenility  might  have  been  at  some  loss  for  a  harmless
outlet,  in  this  early  application  to  traffic,  but  for  a  for-
tunate discovery  he  made  of  a  means  of  entertaining
himself,  and  of  dividing  the  long  day  into  stages  of  in-
terest, without  neglecting  business.  This  ingenious  in-
vention, remarkable,  like  many  great  discoveries,  for  its
simplicity,  consisted  in  varying  the  first  vowel  in  the
word  '*  paper,"  and  substituting  in  its  stead,  at  different
periods  of  the  day,  all  the  other  vowels  in  grammatical
succession.  Thus,  before  daylight  in  the  winter-time,  ho
went  to  and  fro,  in  his  little  oilskin  cap  and  cape,  and  his
big  comforter,  piercing  the  heavy  air  with  his  cry  of
*  Mom-ing  Pa-per ! "  which,  about  an  hour  before  noon,
changed  to  "  Mom-ing  Pep-per  I "  which,  at  about  two,
changed  to  "  Mom-ing  Pip-per ; "  which,  in  a  couple  of
Hoars,  changed  to  **  Mom-ing   Pop-per  I "  and  so  de>


198  THE  HAUNTBD  ICAK.
