The Giant Horse of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson

In the dusty shop of Dan, the second-hand man, there was no sound / except the whirr of a rickety sewing machine in the back room. Dan / bought old clothes which he mended and pressed and sold again to people / who could not afford new ones. Usually he spent every evening in his / dim little Boston shop, but to-night Dan's niece was to be married, and / the old clothes man was hurriedly stitching up a rent in a dress suit / he had bought that very morning from a dusky gentleman in Grant street. / It was worn and shabby, but surveying himself in the cracked mirror a / few moments later Danny felt he would look quite as fine as the groom. / Well pleased with his appearance he nodded to his reflection and taking / down a second-hand high hat from his shelf let himself out into the / night.

It was a warm starry evening in May and, coming to the end of the / narrow street in which he lived, Dan struck out across a small park, / whistling softly to himself. He would have preferred his pipe, but / in honor of the grand occasion had purchased a handful of five cent / cigars. Placing one between his teeth, he fumbled in his pocket for the / box of matches he had surely placed there before starting. His fingers / closed instead on a small leather book.