"'O, the boys,
Of Illinois,
They utterly upset my equipoise';
"'O, thou boy,
Of Illinois!
My peace of mind thou dust destroy?'
"You see, my dear, it is important to know at the start whether you are writing about one boy or several boys; and that rhyming dictionary you sent me doesn't say anything about such a contiguity. You might ask him, too, what is the meaning of contiguity. It's a word I admire, and I want to work it in somewhere where it will not only look well, but make a certain amount of sense.
"Yoors tooly,
"Me."
It was hardly to be expected, after an invitation of this sort, that Mollie should delay visiting the Unwiseman for an instant, so summoning Whistlebinkie and Gyp, she and her two little friends started out, and ere long they caught sight of the Unwiseman's house, standing on one corner of the village square, and in front of it was a peculiar looking booth, something like a banana-stand in its general outlines. This was covered from top to bottom with placards, which filled Mollie with uncontrollable mirth, when she saw what was printed on them. Here is what some of them said:
GO TO ME'S FOR POTERY.
This was the most prominent of the placards, and was nailed to the top of the booth. On the right side of this was:
LISENSED TO SELL SONNITS
ON THE PREMISSES.
Off to the left, printed in red crayon, the curious old man had tacked this: