The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1864-02-11

IgIow worms;' he said, and then laughed
again, partly at his joke, and partly at poo
/ humanity
''In course Of time, however, the thing go
ground, the experiment was made, and they
! lighted up Pail Mall. TOMS uncle went t.
see it. Pve heard that he fell off his ladde
fourteen times that night from weakness, anC
that he would certainly have gone on falling
! till he killed himself, if his last tumble hadn
been in wheelbarrow which was going hi;
way which hamanely took him home. q
foresee in this, said Toms uncle, family anC
taking to his bed as he spoke-'I foresee,i ii
this" he says, 'the breaking up of our pro
fession. There's no more going the rounds
to trim by daylight, no more dribbIing down
of the oil on the hats and bonnets of ladies
and gentlemen when one feels in spirits. Any
fellow can light gas-Iamp And it's all
up" In this state of mind, he petitioned the
government for--I want a word again ger
tlemen-what do you call that which they
give people when it's found out at last, that
they've never been Of any use, and have been
paid too much for doing nothing? 2"
Compensation? suggested the vice.
''Ihats it, said the chairman. Som
pensation. They didn't give it to him though
and then he got very fond Of his country all
at once, and went about saying that gas was
a death blow to his native land, and that it
was a plot Of the radicals to ruin the coun-
try and destroy the oil and cotton trade
for ever, and that the whales would go and
kill themselves privately out Of sheer spite
and veXation at not being caught. At last
he got right down cracked called his tobac-
co-pipe gas-pipe; thought his tears We're
lamp-oil and went on with all manner Of
nonsense of that Sort till one night he hung
himself on a .lamp-iron in Saint Martins
Lane, and there was an end Of tam.
Tom loved him, gentlemen, but lie surviv-
ed it. He shed tear over his grave, got
very drunk, spoke a funeral grafton that
night in the watch house. and was fined five
shiIlings for it in the morning. Some men
are none the worse Tor this sort Of treatment,
Tom was one of EN-, He went that very
afternoon on a new boat, as clear in his head
and as free from fever as Father Mathew
himself
Toms new beat, gentlemen, was--I can't
exactly say where-for that he'd never tell:
but know that it was i'll a quiet part of the
tow H. where there was some queer old hous-
es. l have always had it i'll my head that it
must have been somewhere near Canterbury
Tower in Islington but that is matter Of
opinion. Wherever it was he went upon it,
with bran new ladder, a white hat, a
brown Holland jacket and trousers, blue
neck-kerchief, and sprig Of full blown dou-
bic wall flower in his button-hoIe. Tom was
always gentee in his appearance, and have
heard from the best judges that if he had left
his ladder home that afternoon, YOU might
have took him for lord.
lie was always merry, was Tom, and such
a singer that if there was amy encourage
nlent for native talent, he'd have been at the
opera. He was on his ladder, lighting his
first lamp, and singing to himself i'll way
more easily to be conceived than described,
when he hears the clock strike Ave, aud sud
denly sees an old gentleman with a teles-
cope in his hand throw up a window and
look at him very hard
Tom didn't know what could be passing
in this old gentleman's mind. lie thought
likely enough thai he might be saying NIt1-
in himself. here S a new Iamplighter-a
good-looking young fellow-shall | stand
TO drink !! Thinking this posi-
Die, he keeps quite still, pretending 30 be
very particular about the wick. and looks at
the old gentleman sideways, securing to take
10 notice Of him.
Gentlemen, he was one Of the straugest
and most mysterio us looking flies that ever
Tom cast his eyes on. He was dressed all
;lovenly and unt;dy, in great gown Of al
Kind Of bed furniture pattern, with cap of
he same on his head; and a long old flap
Jed waist-coat; with no braces no strings,
rery few buttons--iu Snort with hardly any
II those artificial contrivauceS that hold so
,iety together. Tom knew by these signs,
md by his not being shaved, and by his not
,eing over clean, and by sort Of wisdom
not quite awake, in his face, that he was q
old gentleman. lie often told me
hat if he could have conceived the poSsibil-
ty Of the whole Royal Society being boiled
Town into one man, he should have said the
I'D gentlelnan's body was that Body.
THE old gentleman claps the telescope to
lis eye, looks all around, sees nobody else III
light, stares at Tom again, and cries out very
oud, 'HalIoa
'''Halloa, sir, says Tom from the ladder
and haIloah again, if you come to that
q Here's an extraordinary fuliilIment,'
iyS lie Olu {9SiitANiiStH, VI = biCtiNViOAi VI
he planets.
els there?' says Tom, I'm very glad to
lear it.
'''Young man, says the old gentleman,
YOU don't kno" me.
- Sir said Tom, L have not chat honor
but shall be happy to drink your health,
:. 4 read, cries the old gentleman, with
nut taking any notice Of this politeness on
Toms part--'l read what's going TO happen
n the stars
''Tom thanked him for the information,
md begged to know if anything particular
vas going to happen in the stars. in the
course Of a week or SO bat the old gentle
nan, correcting him, explained that he read
u the stars what was going to happen on
Try land, and that he was acquainted with
Ill the celestial bodies.
4 hope they are all we'll, sir. says Tom
- everybody
Hush cries the old gentleman, I
nave consulted the Book Of Fate with rare
md wonderful success. am verssd in the
great science Of astrology and astronomy
In my houses here, / have every description
IF apparatus for Observing the course and
notion of the planets Six months ago, 1
leriVed from this source the knowledge that
precisely as the clock struck five this after
loon, a stranger would present himself-the
destined husband Of my young and lovely
liece-in reality. Of illustrious and high de-
scent, but whose birth would be enveloped
n uncertainty and mystery. Don't tell me
-o,. RS isn't" says the Old gentleman, who
vas in such hurry to speak that he could
,ot ret ,'he words out fast enough, for l
NOW bette.
.Gentlemen. Tom was 50 astonished when
e heard him say this, that be could hardly
eep his footing " the ladder. and found it
,qs a mystery abou his birth. lis mother
ad always adnitte it. Tom had never
nown who was his iather, and some people
ad gone so far as to say she was in doubt,
'.Nhile he was in th is state Of amazement
be old gentleman leav, IS the window bursts;
ut of the house door, sh axes the ladder, and
'om, like ripe pnmpA in, comes sliding