Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1865-12-29
MisetllaMtoMs.
Green Mantle.
TALE OF OLD MANCHESTER.

1HcTc WcTc boou many OI US Al
home no lack Of mouths to feed, and
not much to put in them so when had
finished my school days-an event which
occurred tolerably early-L was packed
off to Manchester to serve an apprentice
ship in Manchester warehouse.
had plenty OF work there, and some
little pay, ard when my father had found
the cheap lodgings in the house of an
elderly couple, and arranged the payment
with them 20 as to leave me small sum
of pocket-mopey. he babe me be a good
lad and attentive to business, and left me
to my fate.
My home was too far distant to admit
of my visiting it oftener than once a
year, when obtained brief holiday for
the purpose, and | was terribly lonely in
the busy popsloas town. l knew nobody
and was shy OF making. acquaintances
my companions in the warehouse were
otf-hand rafting fellows. little suited to
my taste; so | subsidized into my quiet
lodgings, read, or rather dcvourod, all
the books | could lay my hands on, aud
grew up a solitary in the midss OF thous-
anls.
One passion | had, and that was to
hunt up every relic OF antiquity | could
possibly travel to; and there YVES not an
old church within circuit of twelve
miles that had not made a pilgrimage
to.
The vestiges Of old Manchester claim
ed particular attention, and haunted
the neighborhood, Of the "college" and
the "old church." was too shy to think
of asking to enter any of them) until |
knew every chink and Granny in their
weathcrbeaten faces. and came to look
upon them as my most intimate friends.
Some of them were public.houses. and
l vcn,urcd timidly, and at intervals, into
these, calling modcstly for glass of ale,
and pcering into the odd hooks and cor
ners. ducking under the heavy beams, and
trying often vainly to look through the
old green glass which obscured the long
low windows.
Long before my apprenticeship had
concluded, found myself permanently
installed in the Office, or counting room
as it was more grandiloquently called,
and that, no doubt, was the 6ttest place
for me as years passed on, l became. by
translation from stool to stool, packing
clerk, Invoice clerk, and book.keepcr, OBJ.
tainin- an advance of wages with each
change of position, until as book,keeper
| was muniicently paid at the rate Of
one hundred and fifty pounds year, and
had reached the summit of my am.
bition.
Duling my brief visits to tho old COL
lege, picked up sort of acquaintance
with one Of its constant frequenters, the
mustest cid book-worm in the lot, whom
| found there when l went in and left
there when came out. and should have
believed to live there but that | knew no
candles were admitted. and that at night
the books would be useless to him with.
out them. He was strange figure,
dressed in suit Of rusty black, with a
neckerchief twisted round his throat in a
sort Of wisp, pair Of green google
spectacles upon his nose, and with two,
three or four folios usually ranged round
him, one for reading, the others for com.
parison or reference.
had the good fortune once to hand
him ponderous tome which had slipped
from his knees whilst he was intent upon
another placed upon the stand before
him and after that time, if by chance
he glanced, which might happen once in
a month perhaps, whilst | was in the
reading room, | was sure of kindly nod
at least before he looked down again.
Once, in difficulty, l ventured to re.
fer to him, and was no little astonished
by the flood of erudition poured in con.
sequence upon me. fle knew everything
that had been written upon the subject,
and gave me the key to my puzzle i'm.
mediatcly, together with half hundred
references wherewith still further to
eluoidate it. Afterwards our relation
ship became almost that Of master and
pupil and | may say that we became in
some sort friends. though our only place
of meeting was the library.
The rule in our Office was that every
one employed should be there and at work
at nine o'clock in the morning aud &C.
cordingly twenty minutes before nine.
precisely. passed the church tower on
my way to it.
l believe that every clock in the back
street of Strangeways in which | lived
was timed by the church clock as pass
ed.-From long habit this comparison
had become a necessity, aad the cnly