The old showman , sitting down to his barrel-organ , stirred up the souls of the pygmy people with one of the quickest tunes in the music-book ; tailors , blacksmiths , gentlemen , and ladies , all seemed to share in the spirit of the occasion ; and the Merry-Andrew played his part more facetiously than ever , nodding and winking particularly at me . The young foreigner flourished his fiddle-bow with a master 's hand , and gave an inspiring echo to the showman 's melody . The bookish man and the merry damsel started up simultaneously to dance ; the former enacting the double shuffle in a style which everybody must have witnessed , ere Election week was blotted out of time ; while the girl , setting her arms akimbo with both hands at her slim waist , displayed such light rapidity of foot , and harmony of varying attitude and motion , that I could not conceive how she ever was to stop ; imagining , at the moment , that Nature had made her , as the old showman had made his puppets , for no earthly purpose but to dance jigs . The Indian bellowed forth a succession of most hideous outcries , somewhat afrighting us , till we interpreted them as the war-song , with which , in imitation of his ancestors , he was prefacing the assault on Stamford . The conjurer , meanwhile , sat demurely in a corner , extracting a sly enjoyment from the whole scene , and , like the facetious Merry Andrew , directing his queer glance particularly at me . As for myself , with great exhilaration of fancy , I began to arrange and color the incidents of a tale , wherewith I proposed to amuse an audience that very evening ; for I saw that my associates were a little ashamed of me , and that no time was to be lost in obtaining a public acknowledgment of my abilities . `` Come , fellow-laborers , '' at last said the old showman , whom we had elected President ; `` the shower is over , and we must be doing our duty by these poor souls at Stamford . '' `` We 'll come among them in procession , with music and dancing , '' cried the merry damsel . Accordingly -- for it must be understood that our pilgrimage was to be performed on foot -- we sallied joyously out of the wagon , each of us , even the old gentleman in his white-top boots , giving a great skip as we came down the ladder . Above our heads there was such a glory of sunshine and splendor of clouds , and such brightness of verdure below , that , as I modestly remarked at the time , Nature seemed to have washed her face , and put on the best of her jewelry and a fresh green gown , in honor of our confederation . Casting our eyes northward , we beheld a horseman approaching leisurely , and splashing through the little puddles on the Stamford road . Onward he came , sticking up in his saddle with rigid perpendicularity , a tall , thin figure in rusty black , whom the showman and the conjurer shortly recognized to be , what his aspect sufficiently indicated , a travelling preacher of great fame among the Methodists . What puzzled us was the fact , that his face appeared turned from , instead of to , the camp-meeting at Stamford . However , as this new votary of the wandering life drew near the little green space , where the guidepost and our wagon were situated , my six fellow-vagabonds and myself rushed forward and surrounded him , crying out with united voices , -- `` What news , what news from the camp-meeting at Stamford ? '' The missionary looked down , in surprise , at as singular a knot of people as could have been selected from all his heterogeneous auditors . Indeed , considering that we might all be classified under the general head of Vagabond , there was great diversity of character among the grave old showman , the sly , prophetic beggar , the fiddling foreigner and his merry damsel , the smart bibliopolist , the sombre Indian , and myself , the itinerant novelist , a slender youth of eighteen . I even fancied that a smile was endeavoring to disturb the iron gravity of the preacher 's mouth . `` Good people , '' answered he , `` the camp-meeting is broke up . '' So saying , the Methodist minister switched his steed , and rode westward . Our union being thus nullified , by the removal of its object , we were sundered at once to the four winds of heaven .
The fortune-teller , XXXXX a nod to all , and a peculiar wink to me , departed on his northern tour , chuckling within himself as he took the Stamford road .
approaching beheld fancied flourished giving put sallied sat skip stirred