The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-30
6SGEGRA APH-PHIIb bnDELPHIA FRIDAY DECEMBER 30 1864

hair a. Of the tip Of his nose, which cane out
on The other side, between turned-up coat
collars which merged In a hat He slowly
moved through the darkness like black
phantom on casters He never seemed
TO be at all wary Of strangers who accosted
him suddenly in lonely places. He was never
known TO be able to give any Information
about the streets. He walked them, but that
was ALL To likcn him t6 something of the
mechanical kind we should say that he was
a high-prossure engine OF small locomotive
power, No one ever saw him provided with
fuel, but the color Of his nose, as seen by
moonlight, indicated that his furnaces were
vol supplied. When he spoke, from which it
was inferred that his mouth had opened. there
was short, wheezy puff Of stertorious breath
suggestive Of rich meats and stock ale.
He has Disappeared Philadelphia knows
him no morel We cannot recognize In the
spruce policeman of the present day any
affinity with the staid philosopher of many
wrappings. Did he have any descendants?
Was he ever Barried? We think It unlikely:
for even supposing that any woman would
like to marry a man who walked about the
streets all night, how could ne have gone
through the preliminary of courtship2 Could
q woman ever fall in love with a bale of dry
goods, even when surmounted by the tin Of a
red nose supposed TO belong to one OF the mcle
seXP If he has descendants, would we not
recognize in some Of our lellow-cltizens the
peculiar figure and bearing of the ancestorP
The nearest approach to these character
istics is to be observed in a race of
youths who exist upon the pavements Of
Chestnut street. In their squat figures,
stomachs commencing to curve under the chin,
legs which are not made for service, as they
certainly not tlorshow, their little round hats,
and air of frenchned Esquimaux,-we have
sometimes thought that we recognized degene-
rate descendants Of the last watchmen. Know
ing that family tendencies are transmitted from
one generation to another, we have been
confirmed in our belief for we have OBJ
served that these youths roam iucessantly up
and down the street as iG upon perpetual
"beat"
If it had not been for our recollection of
whifls OF bottled stout, we would have been
sometimes tempted to believe that the watch
men of the olden time Of Philadelphia never
did exist in flesh and blood but that in the
old-iashoned days those peripatetic hullls
were 6be 0GGii loci, and that when the slow
age Of The city was succeeded by the fast age,
they mouruiully departed, Withdrawing them
selves from uncongenial scenes.
Whittier they have gone, we know not-they
have gone! No more shall we see their burly
forms vending their way through the gloam-
ing, or through the lights and shadows
Of the night! No more shall we torture
them with questions impossible to answerl
No more shall we upset them in their boxes,
and trhndle them along the pavement No
more shall their mysterious presence mingle
with our life, except in the reveries of child
hood, when we still hear their husky voices
fading away upon the murky airl Guardians
OF the peace, then so seldom broken, know at
least that many there are who regre. that ye
departed! Spirit or hesh-larewelll