Kenosha tribune and telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1855-1855, 1855-01-11
TFfom Uou.chola words, for Dec
The Compassionate Broker

I
/ do not make hard inen. On the contrary
| it would seem as though the constant con-
Temptation ofpain and suffering had a ten
dency to soften rather than -indurate the
heart of the beholder. Butchers are not
always sanguinary; but are ordinarily ten
der hearted men. Grisly soldiers and sail
ors are gentle and lamb-like with children
Burly dustmen and coalheavers are, save
when excited with the Juror of alcohol, men
OF meek and peaceable demeanor Turn
keys and goalors, are mild and benign men,
full of quiet suggestions for the prisoners
comfort. The majority of prize-fghters
are slow to take offence, and loath TO use
their terrible weapons. Indeed, with the
exception of relieving officers, slavedealers,
plaintiffs attorneys, some schoolmasters,
bill discounters, and secretaries OF loan So
ceties, it is rare to find men who at all par
take of the hardness of the calling they are
compelled to follow. Much belied as this
poor human nature is, those who,dehgh hit in
the infliction of pain and the spectacle of
misery, for their own sakes, are very, very
few. Nero, Governor Wall, and Mrs.
Brownri9g, are yet monsters. aeJ =
Now of all hardest, stoniest sternest lines
a man can well follow, commend us to that
of an auctloneer, broker, and appraiser
To be George Robins, Mus9rove and
Gadsden, Cafe, Sons, and Read, must be
hard enough to man of sensitive feelings.
10 have to sell the broad green acres that
have been in the good old family for gene
ratiens;to have 20 build auctioneering nests
in the scathed branches of the old mahog-
any tree; and knock down, one by one, the
wthercd blossoms of friendship and hos
pitallty and love; TO sec the Turkey carpets
rolled up, and the pictures turned with
their faces to the wall; to value the goblets
that have held a thousand loving pledges,
and the heirlooms that have been won by
wisdom and bravery, only as much per
ounce; to solicit an advance ION the mar
riage bed, and turn up the gransirc'S arm
chair, that Hebrew upholsterer. from
Flnsbury Pavement, may inspect its cas-
tors; TO hammer its pearls out of the coronet
and draw the bar-sinistcr Of poverty across
the time honored escutcheon; to draw up
the death warrant of the pride, and wealth
and comfort of family in a catalogue
reckoning the choicest household treasures
the Lares and Penates of the hearth; the
old lord s velvet crutch, the heirs cricket
bat, when he was boy, the heiress's bird
cage, only as 50 many lots--all this must
he bard and cruel enough; and as the auc.
tioneer's hammer in its yerberatiuns seems
but to punctuate the text that Favor is de-
cetful and Beauty vain, and that there is
no, Ofit 10 10
himself must sigh.
But when, as is tie case in the provinces,
the auctioneer is also a broker and valuer;
when he seizes, as well assells, when he is
not only favored with instructions to sell,
but commanded, with her Majesty's greet
ings, to impound under The sheliffs lew,
the vocation becomes doubly painful, doubly
melancholy. The aucticneer becomes the
undertaken of the happiness, and with his
hammer nails up the coffin of their hopes.
He comes, not Of himself, but by the law
to strip the widow and the orphan, and de-
spoil the fatherless The bed is his, the
ticking cloth, the little old miniature on the
mantel the few books on the hanging shelf
the. brightpots and pans, the fathers gun,
the children's little 90 cart. He can take
the hearth rug from under the cat, and
though that domestic animal herSelfis be
meath his notice if she had brass collar it
would be his, and down as an item in the
inventory, and in a moment.
TO seize the poor mans striks is utterly
to beggar and crush him, 10 scrape him as
forked radish, to knock the poor ediice
of his bicn etre a. completely abouthis ears
as the households broom demolishes the
SPIDERS web; aye, but without having the
power TO reconstruct bis web; as the spider
can. But though hard, It's the law. and
the law must be obeved; and we must dc
our duty, as Lille Jack Scotforth of Doddcr-
ham said. r--
Lille Jack had sold up some hundreds Of
families in his time. lie, a man Of toasi
and butter, man with heart SO soft and
big and porous, that was continually suck
ing up milk and honey, and continually
being squeezed by The fingers ofsympathy
for the benefit of those about him and con.
tinually ready 10 imbibe, and be squeezed
again-he had been in possession times GU
of number. He, who rot only prayed fol
his daily bread, bat shared it with his hun
CRY ncighborS, was tAe almost daily expo
nent of the wrtFl. Fa. Each distress he
put in. was a distress TO him; .inyeEtorie:
were Sc many penitenGal psalms TO him
but what was 10 be done? Ii landlords
wouldn't wait, the law, SO hasty in taking
so tardy in restoring, could not afford tc
wait moment either, you may be sure
and if you can not get meal, you mum tax
malt, an sell the cgeeturs up said Liz
Jack with sigh. aas. aro
Auctioneering, among the middle elasse:
the good man took tomore kin div. Among
the peculiarities of Dodderham folk is
strong prediction for attending sales. bid
ding for articles thereat. Little Miss Ogle
the confeetiener, has quite museum o
articles she has picked up rat sales-Olnnes'
slippers. boxes of cigars, harness, gas tit
tings, and other,miscellaneous articles, all 0
which she has acquired from time to time
without the slightest idea of their being o
any use to her, but with a vague notion tina
they may turn up handy some day
/ Mrs. Sguatto, Capt Squatto's widow, WIZ
. :. x-ar,- |, I 1