The Express.
London, England, 1868-09-30 00:00:00

.V.)11:1,77 SWINDLIXO.

A um's-mamas writes to a contomporsry to
scum " ladies whoae husbands are absent from
•• home"— a very large population indeed—
/ gainst what he calls " a novel system of
• • swindling successfully practised upon his wife."
A man, who leeks like a reepeetabln lawyer's
ele rk, calls upon the lady in the middle of th,,
day. with a chorine, saying it is the amount of a
loan made by her husband, with sotnothin;
added ft.r lawyer's expenses incurred by
the en iploj (Ts of the applicant. The man
scants 4d. change. The lady objects that she
does not know the names of the lawyers or of the
borrower so-called—it does not apparently crour
to her to wonder why the clerk should nut have
taken the cheque back to his employers, and got
from them an exchange cheque for their client.
The thief pleasantly replies that many gentle-
men have money transactions which they keop
secret from their wives. At this the lady doe 4 not
seem to have assumed that it was an odd thing
for law yurs employed by her husband to
recover u private loan to come straight to
his private house without warning, when
there was every change, of his being absent.
rind apply direct to his wife for the " change." in
one ease, threatened with an extra charge of
Gs. bd. if she compelled the adventurer to take
back the cheque, the lady made a curious conapm-
mim, by paying bins .is. The best part of the story
is that the impudent rascal requested that the
lalunri• of .Ss. id, might be forwarded home-
diattly.
But where is the novelty of the swindle ? Every-
hotly has read a score of times of robberies on a
similar plan. The ith,Pem;rea of ordinary swindling
might be easilyelarsified and made into shook, with
illustrative cases. A Handbook of Swindling might
not be a bad idea, end it would be curious to
note the number and character of the people who
were put on their guard by it. Instilled wisdom
in such matters is tumidly of no value. To be ready
at 01 points and all times to cope with swindlers,
a man should have in him this germ, however
latent, which might, in his own C 41.40, be developed
into the swindling instinct. Parson Album would
have been as easily imposed upon after reading a
Handbook of Swindling as before ; while Parson
TRULLIB2:II would always have been safe. To
instil caution into the gullible is usually to set them
upon wrong scents and make them highly incredu-
lous of the most honest people and the most
genuine things ; like HOOD'S wife, insisting that
the red spots on the plaice were signs of putres-
cence.

THE abatement of the FIRST COMMIASIONitt of
her MAJEsTY'S WORMS that the surplus bedding-
out plants of our parks and public gardenv are
to be distributed this autumn amongst the pear of
London will be received with universal White:-
than. The poor man who loves newer. finds a
ples,ure in the culture of his few window plants
which ia %Lolly unknOwn to his wealthier neigh.
Lour. It is Leanne they are so few that they are
dear; they are dependent on his daily care fur
their ex7lttt nee, and repay him a thousand-fold by
jr fragrance and beauty. SnLKEePaABR says
that the man who has not music in his soul is
not to Le trusted; with quite as muuh truth it
may Le said that a man who loves Bowers gives;
tin r' by a guarantee of god conduct and refined
feeling. It is with no common interest, therefore,
that we hear from time to time of the prizes won
by successful window gardening, and it is evident
that a taste for the cultivation of plants will be
greatly fostered by such • gift as that just an-
nounoed. How many • poor London home will
be made brighter and more home-like this
winter by the presence of these cheerful and inex-
pensive visitors!