One might move about a great deal, in truth, and hear no other view expressed.

But then again one might stumble into conversation with one small storekeeper after another, and learn that they united in resenting the existence of "Thurston's," as rival farmers might join to curse a protracted drought.
Each had his special flaming grievance.

The little dry-goods dealers asked mournfully how they could be expected to compete with an establishment which could buy bankrupt stocks at a hundred different points, and make a profit if only one-third of the articles were sold for more than they would cost from the jobber?
The little boot and shoe dealers, clothiers, hatters, and furriers, the small merchants in carpets, crockery, and furniture, the venders of hardware and household utensils, of leathern goods and picture-frames, of wall-paper, musical instruments, and even toys--all had the same pathetically unanswerable question to propound.

But mostly they put it to themselves, because the others were at "Thurston's." The Rev.Theron Ware had entertained rather strong views on this subject, and that only a week or two ago.

One of his first acquaintances in Octavius had been the owner of the principal book-store in the place--a gentle and bald old man who produced the complete impression of a bibliophile upon what the slightest investigation showed to be only a meagre acquaintance with publishers' circulars.