Rambles about Portsmouth. Sketches of persons, localities, and incidents of two centuries: principally from tradition and unpublished documents. By Charles W. Brewster.

MRS. MALOON'S SHOP, 329
wxait upon a customer, sitting upon the same spot, year in
and year out, engaged in knitting; her favorite cat "Tibby"
lying upon the rug at her side. It was a cheerful scene of
domestic comfort when a bright wood fire was burning
upon the hearth, for she eschewed stoves, and would admit
no such modern innovations upon her premises. She had
long occupied her mansion, and could remember a time
when a ten-foot building stood upon the site of Mrs. Abbott's dwelling, and a blacksmith's shop was on the garden
in the rear. One evening, while engaged in her occupation of knitting, thinking of the days that were gone, and
of her youth that would return no more, her meditations
were suddenly disturbed by the bursting in of the door of
her shop with a crash that shook the house to its foundation. On opening the door to learn the cause, she discovered to her astonishment, as much of a horse-sled projecting
inside the shop as its huge dimensions would allow to enter,
a boy of some six years old clinging to it through the aid
of a hole in the centre, and no one else to be seen, far or
near, in the bright moonlight. The tale he had to tell, related with much fear and trembling, while assisting to
remove the unwieldy obstruction, bore sufficient evidence
of its truthfulness, as it was very clear that he, unaided,
could never have used so ponderous a conveyance. While
some of the smaller boys of the neighborhood were engaged in sliding, two of the largest and roughest specimens
of "Southenders " made their appearance among them,
and after amusing themselves for a while with borrowed
sleds, started off in pursuit of something more exciting.
A few rods distant on the northern side of Pitt street, was
a depot of old gigs, carts and other vehicles that would
have done honor to Shepherd Ham's collection of sadlery
articles mentioned in Rambles 41. Selecting from among
them a dilapidated horse-sled, they dragged it to the
summit of the hill, and getting on themselves, and inducing
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