Now it happened that on a Saturday in the beginning of haying-time,
the village tailor sent home by Harry a new suit of light summer
clothes, for which Jacob had been measured a month before. After
supper he tried them on, the day's work being over, and Sally's
admiration was so loud and emphatic that he felt himself growing
red even to the small of his back.
"Now, don't go for to take 'em off, Mr. Jake," said she. "I spec'
you're gwine down to Pardon's, and so you jist keep 'em on to show
'em all how nice you KIN look."
The same thought had already entered Jacob's mind. Poor fellow!
It was the highest form of pleasure of which he had ever allowed
himself to conceive. If he had been called upon to pass through
the village on first assuming the new clothes, every stitch would
have pricked him as if the needle remained in it; but a quiet walk
down the brookside, by the pleasant path through the thickets and
over the fragrant meadows, with a consciousness of his own neatness
and freshness at every step, and with kind Ann Pardon's
commendation at the close, and the flattering curiosity of the
children,--the only ones who never made fun of him,--all that was
a delightful prospect.
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