Pudd'nhead Wins His Name

Tell the truth or trump--but get the trick.

--Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar

The scene of this chronicle is the town of Dawson's Landing,
on the Missouri side of the Mississippi, half a day's journey,
per steamboat, below St. Louis.

In 1830 it was a snug collection of modest one- and two- story
frame dwellings, whose painted exteriors were about concealed
from sight by climb tangles of rose vines, honeysuckles,
and morning glories. Each of these pretty homes had a garden in front
fenced with white palings and sumptuously stocked with with hollyhocks, marigolds,
touch-me-nots, prince's-feathers, and another old-fashioned flowers;
while on the windowsills of the houses stood wooden boxes containing
moss rose