In a case at one end of the counter were squares of thick white paper covered with rows of small pink, also white, 'peppermint buttons,' small sticks, two inches in length, of chewing gum in waxed paper, a white, tasteless, crystalline substance resembling paraffine.

What longing eyes I frequently cast at the small scalloped cakes of maple sugar, prohibitive as regards cost.

They sold for a nickel, am I was always inordinately fond of maple sugar, but the price was prohibitive.

I seldom possessed more than a penny to spend in those days, and not always that.

Father raised a large family, money was never plentiful, and we relished the plain, cheap candies usually sold in those days more than many children of the present day do the finest and most expensive cream chocolates, to many of whom in this extravagant age a dollar is not valued more highly than was a penny by us in years gone by.