The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1865-06-22
Jph 9rintiug
What a Baby's Hand Unlocked.

wander up and down the quaint old stree
soon learn to leave the broad and model
thoroUghfares, and to plunge into the silen
and seclusion of the queer by-ways whiC
lie away from the great roaring sea of ira
nc, like the caves and khallows that ski
some ocean bay, ........
Amongst these retired spots none al
more suggestive than the old churchyard
all blurred and dim with London snok e. bl
yet in which few trees nearly put fort
green leaves Of little promise, and cho
OF sooty sparrows chirp around the quee
old steeples, or perch impudently upon tn
leaden ornaments which adorn the sacre
porch. In these places-which even in sum
mer are well-like in their cool impenetrabl
shade-there is no little business going OF
however, for all around the rusty iron rail
ing which enclose the weeds entangle
graveyard, the houses of the city merchant
seem to crowd and hustle for space; and,
they had any time for it, the clerks benin
those dust blinded windows might spend al
hour not unprofitably in looking down upol
the decaYing MONUMENTS of departed citizen
and meditating at once on the uncertainty
of human affairs and the benefits of life as
surance.
Amongst the dozen or SO of such place.
illustrating the brick and mortar history o
the city, none are more Suggestive than thu
church and yard of st. Simon Swyuherde
which, lying in the circumbendibus of a
lane named after the same saint, forms as
it were sort of outlying island, upon who's.
quiet shores the incautious wayfarer, being
sometimes lost or cast away, can hear the
of tho cau no fbox, thrSo, Al
thoroughfares beyond. There is no altera.
ton in tnis plac; from year, t. year excep-
such differences as are bro't about by tile
change of seasons; no improvement troubles
its sedate gloom-no adventurous Speculation
regards it as promising site for building
blocks OF otfices-no railway company casts
an evil eye upon it seclusion within the area
formed by the church and the tall dim
houses which have mouldered into uniform
neutrality of color.
Even the march of time seems to have
been arrested amidst the decay of the place
since the bell of the church clock rusted
from its bearings, and the index Of the old
sun dial fell prey 10 accumulated canker
The spring brings few green buds and
feeble leaves upon the grimmy trees the
summers serves to accumulate the store OF
rust and torn paper and shreds of light rub
blsh which the autumn winds whirl into
neglected corners on the dim evenings
when the rain weeps on the blackened win
dows, and the mist creeps up to the steeple
in long ghostly shapes; the winter brings a
frozen cyclone which whistles round and
round or gently covers the graveyard with
snow, the unbroken whiteness of which is
gradually spotted and interIaced with sooty
flakes, as though the genius of the place
resented the intrusion, and would make no
further compromise than half mourning
These are the changes that mark the prog
ress of st. Swynherde-which cares no more
for past or modern improvement than do the
Common Council for the eaten dinners of
the last mayoralty.
To get away from the place, however and
come to our story-Gt shows what queer.
dreaming, out of the-way, lost, forlorn,
silent, incompetent old neighborhood it is
when only to begin to talk about it involves
utter forgetfulness of the business that took
you thereto get away from the place to
the people-the dimmest, darkest and dirti-
est of all the houses round the yard was
that of Richard bryce & Co, factors and gen
eral merchants 1t was not known who was
the Co, for Richard Dryce managed his own
business, and lived in the house, in one of
the back rooms of which, overlooking a
square paved courtyard, he had been born !;
for the business belonged to his father be.
fore him, and he himself had married into
the business Of another factor and general
merchant. His wife had died some twenty
years before the period Of. this story--died
in giving birth to boy who was sometimes
mistaken for the Co, but who at present oc
cupied no better position than that of su-
perior clerk, with the questionable advan-
tage of living with his father in the dull old
he house, where had to go through the ware
house amidst innuunerabe bales, and crates
aud packages to reach the staircase, which.
conducted him to the gloomy rooms, the
old fashioned furniture of which suited his
father, but was sorely against his own taste.
How he should have come to any opinion
of his own is perhaps mystery, for he re-
sembled his mother, who was a simple crea-
ture, easily influenced, and with all her
tastes apparently moulded on the pattern set
before her by her husband. Still, however
it may have been, though he was born in
the gloomy house, and was subject to the
same influences, the younger Dryce-whose
name was Robe. t-never took kindly to the
dull routine to which his fathers habits
doomed him. He was too dutifuI aud too
mild in his dispostion-in fact, too unlike
his own father-to offer any direct opposi
ton to it, or to complain very often of its
exactions; but he felt that at twenty he was
kept with too tight hand, aud that there
were worlds beyond st. Simon Swynherde,
which might be harmlessiy explored.
Richard bryce was however, not bad
man, not a cruel or hard man in mis- utmost
heart; but he had devoted himself from ear.
ly life to one condition of things, which
were in some strange way in accordance
with his natural constitution, or with which
he had become identified till they grew III
to a necessary part of his existence. lii
was a self contained man-an undemonstra
tive man-whose mind was attuned to re
spectful solitude and who, without being
misanthrope, regarded his fellow creatures
through ground glass mediuR, which
made them seem shadowy and unapproach
able A few business acquaintance he hat
with whom he would sometimes take hi
chop and glass of old port at city tavern
lie would even, on rare occasions, go to tn
length of smoking cigar in company wit
one or two of his less distant companions
but his laugh was like the harsh echo of
disused violin, and he seldom or never in
vited anybody to see him at home
One of the people whom he disliked mos
said that he was "a buttoned- up man" an
Richard bryce could never forgive him
the description was so true.
One of his most intimate friends, an AlC
erman of cougenial temperament, who ha
greatly distinguished himself by quarrelin
and exchanging vituperative epithets wit
another Alderman on the magisterial bencl
seriously advised him to become acandidat
for civic honors; but he strenuously refuse
although he permitted his son Robert
achieve something like independence by b
coming a liveryman in the Worshipful Con
pany Of Twiddiers, whose hall stood with
the precincts of st. Simon Swynherde.
was only on the occasion of one of the