The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1865-12-17
0roon llos
a TALE OF OLD MANCHESTER.

Thsrsvers god many. e ~ = home ;
NO lack Of mouths to feed, and Mt TOO mpch
to PIT into them !; % when 1 - 6nished my
school days-sn event which occurred tolera-
bly, early-I was packed Of to Manchester 70
serve N apprenticeship in . ManchesteF
.WArehouse. Il.
I had plenty of work there and some little
pay; and when my father had found me
cheap lodgings IN the house Of IN elderly
couple, and had arranged the payment With
then, 50 O. TO leave me small sum for pook-
ct money, he bade me be . good lad and It
tentive to business, saA left ne b my fate.
Nv home WAS too far distant to admit OF
nv visiting it oftener than once . year, whom
obtained brief holiday for the purpose,
and was terribly lonely in the busy, popu-
lous town. l knew nobody, and was shy OF
making acquaintances; my companions in the
warehouse were 6-hand, rafting fellows,
little suited to my taste so | subsidized into
my quiet lodgings, read, or rather devoured,
all the books could lay my hands on, and
Rrsv up solitary in the midst 6 thoussnds.
One passion had, and that was to hunt up
every relic of antiquity could possibly man.
age to travel to and there was not An old
hall nor an old church within . circuit Of
twelve or fourteen miles that did not make
pilgrimage to.
The vestiges of old Manchester clainaed
particular attention, and haunted the neigh,
borhood Of the college aud the "old
church" looking at the outside Of the old
hoqses, Il WAS too shy to think Of asking
peru BISON 10 enter any Of them, uatfi
knew every chink and Granny in their wealth
erbeaten faces, and came TO look upon them
d my most intimate friends. Some Of them
were public houses, and l ventured timidly,
and It intervals, Into these, calling modestly
for glass Of Gle, end pserng iato- the odd
hooks and cornsrs, ducking under the heayy
beams, and trying ohsa vainly to look
through the old green glass which obseGrsd
the long low windows.
Lcnr before my apprenticeship hsd con.
cluded, found myself permanently installed
in the Office, or counting house ~ it was more
grandiloqueptly called, and that, no doubt,
was the 6ttest place for me. As years pass.
ed on, became, BY translation from stool 70
stool, packing clerk, invoice clerk, and book.
keeper, obtaining IN ADVANCE Of wages With
each change Of position, until o. bookkesper.
was muni6cently paid At the tate Of one
hundred and fifty pounds a year, and had
reached the summit Of my ambition.
During my brief visits to the library al the
old college, picked up sort of acquaintance
with one Of its constant frequenters, the mus
test old book-worm in the lot, whom found
there-whe l went in and left there when |
came ont, and should hsve believed TO live
there but that knew that no candles were
admitted and that at night the books would
be useless to him without them He was \
strange figure, dressed in suit of rusty black.
With his neckerchisf twisted round his throat
in sort Of visp, . pair Of great google
spectacles upon his nose, and with tvo, three
or four folios usually ranged rosnd him. one
for reading the others for comparison and
reference. / had the good fortune once TO
hand him ponderous tome which had slipped
from his KEGS whilst he was intent upon an
other placed upon the stand before him; and
after that time, If by chance he glaaced up.
which might happen once in . month per
haps, whilst was in the reading room, was
sure of kindly nod at least before be glanced
down again.
Once, in difficulty, ventured to refer to
him, and was no little astonished BY the
food of erudition poured in consequence up
on me. He knew everything that had been
written upon the subject and gave me the key
to my puzzle Immediately, together with halfa
hundred references wherewiih still: farther to
elucidate it. Afterwards our relationship be.
came almost that Of master and pupil, and
may say that we became in some sort friends,
though our only place of meeting was the IL
brary.
The rule in our Office was that every one
employed should be there and ut work at nine
0 clock in the morning; and accordingly 1t
twenty minutes before nine, precisely, pass
ed the clock in the old church tower on nv
way to it believe that every clock in the
back street Of Strangeway in which l lived
was timed by my movements much in the
same way In which my watch was timed BY
the church clock as passed. From long habit
this comparison had become . necessity and
the only temptation ever had TO omit 1t was
by the passing the same spot, ct
my precise moment, of young lady dressed |
in green mantle, whom 1 met mornineIhfter |
morning, and whose fresh, pleasant face had |
got To look for until fancied the missing it |
would almost cast gloom upon the day. II
vas long before did miss it. month after |
after month, through the long winter, wet or |
Try, hail, rain or snow, at twenty minutes to I
nine met Greenmantle, as | called her in |
NY thoughts, opposite the old church tower. /
Very soon | knew her as well as any old /
house in the city, or out oft, and could have |
every fold in her dress and every |
eature in her sweet face, but had no one to I
describe them to at that time, and am not /
yoing to begin now.
! was . young man of FIVE and twenty then,
but sS shamefac as a girl /; if fancied that |
5reenmantls looked ip my direction, colored |
o the top of my head, believe, and hasten.
ID onward; if she passed without appearing
% notice me, was miserable for the entire
lay.
Gradually put together little history of
Ter, but as it was incorrect except in two of
he more Insignificant particulars, it need not
,e detailed here. She had usually roll of
music with her, 80 l knew she was a govern
ss somewhere, and that was all could make
ut with certainty. | wanted to know all
bout her, who she wss, where she lived,
That relatives she had, and, above all, want
d to know her. ! had got to love her before
had exchanged word, or even . nod, With
er. Her face was the index to all goodgsss,
nd felt that must win her, or die. iii
'as as shy as girl, l Was every bit as roman
C, and actually upset all the neighbors'
quanimity by starting from my lodgings ten
minutes before my accustomed time, and 80
ersuading them that every clock in the
rect was ten minutes behind time. Bat l !
Kissed seeing Greenmantle. ran back, in
eed. just in time to see her skirt disappear I
, the distant crowd but that did not con. I
mt me, and for weeks became . true time q
eeper again. Then l tried being late / I
# my lodgings at the accustomed hour, in =
eed but l loitered upon the road, and I
reenmantle passed me almost at my own
rect end. fingered and watched, but she .
ont on until fOuJh d;sf o,,;sh hor u<& l>,sL