THE TWO APPRENTICES.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.
MAY-FAIR DAY AND THE GOOD MISS KENDRICKS.

Ir was in the merry month of May, and the sixth
day of the month; the sun shone warm and bright,
and diffused a spirit of cheerfulness over the leafy
woods and the richly pastoral country that surrounded
the pleasant little town of Uttoxeter, or Utceter, as it
was, for the sake of euphony, commonly called. The
cuckoo had been up shouting for hours in the hedge-
row trees of the little convenient crofts, full of grass,
and enclosed with tall hawthorn hedges, now in full
bloom, which environed the town ; and the blackbird
and the throstle were singing with all their might in
the abundant gardens, which intersected or lay behind
almost every house in the town. At six o'clock in
the morning, all that little town was astir, for it was
the morning of May-fair—an important day, for
Utceter being, as it were, the metropolis of an exten-
sive pastoral and farming district, its spring and
autunm fairs were attended from both far and wide,
The roads leading to it from all directions had, the
preceding day, been filled with herds of cattle and