The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-09-23
DAILY LEADER
IFroa Chsmbers' Journal
LIEUTENANT VAN RENEBEL-
LAER'S BOOTS.

d tnnulest eiu6 OF TenDeylFa1la AF0nu
d Washington City. had only been te
4 days In the New World, and had come ovs
solely and entirely Cor pleasure; thkt is /
r say wanted to see something of the stsr
, realities of that great struggle, about whic
, We we're then reading SO eagerly. I wa
stfoillng along, thinking that, bat for th
sWarms Of blue uniformed soldiers the dusl
and, the negroes, Washington was not unlik
Birken head. Every body who is acquainte
with Birkenbesd knows that there ar
Streets which commence with 3 semblanc
of life and hustle, but terminate after q
existence OF two hundred yards in barrel
region of desolstion. The same thing oh
tains In Washington, only on larger snC
more transatlantic scale. at one end of
street you msy purchase the LAST new novel
st the other END you may possibly encoun
ter rattle snake.
was gazing up one Of thsse side streets
when my eyes caught the words, 81 Po,
Geek, Military Bootmsker." Inecribed In
elegant characters over shop Of extremely
select appearance. At the door of the shor
| II purposelY svoid the word store) lounged
q short, stout personsge, dressed rs beftted
the sultry weather, in white holiday coat
and Panama hat. HWhy,D said medi-
tAtively TO myself, Hdoes the name Pocock
naturally suggest boots to my mind7 l
never knew q boctmaker called Pocock.
Stay, though. Cunningham and Clifton
OF Doodle street. st. James,, had q shop
man of that name; and by the awl of the
veneIsted st. Orispin, yonder he stands u
crossed the street quite pleased aE having
discovered Mr.. Pocock on foreigE grouno.
"Mr. Pocock, do you recognize me2"
Il do not, sir be replied
Il am one of Ounnineh hams old custo.
mers; CranbrOok, son Of Sir Lionel Gran
brook, Of
Now, in London, Mr.. PAcock, would
have whipped off his has, and bowed down
obsequiously before the son of bsronet,
but he remembered that he was on repub.
lican soil, and acted accordingly.
'Mr. Crsnbrookl Why, so his. Allow
me to have the pleasure Of shaking your
hand, SIR g-t lHl
So we shock hands, and then Mr.. Pocock
remsrking that It was cooler inside than
out, invited me into his inner sanctum, and
placed summer drinks before me- treating
me with the easy familiarity of an old
friend. r.
Il can be of use to you here, Mr.. Gran
brook he said. know something about
everybody. Or course your friends up at
the Embassy can get you q pass for the
Union lines, but if you want (hers Mr..
Pocock cautiously dropped his voice., to
spend week or two smong the "grsy-
backs" come to me- l suppose my eoun-
tenance expressed some surprise, for the
boot maker had correctly guessed my feel
ings, when he added Pm not Dragging,
sir; can do what say. I occupy q very
different social position here to what Gun.
ninghsm and Clifton do in London Gun
ninghsm and Clifton are both rich men,
" ith their suburban Vallas; yet if you, Mr..
Oranbrook, were asked to meet them at
dinner, you would consider yourself insult
ed
Indeed, Mr.. PocOck,' began, Il should
You could MT help yourself. Society; |
would be dead against you Now, here, |
there's no aristocrscy crushing you down. |
In England, we feel that there are better |
bred people,and better educated, than our
selves, and we succumb TO them; but here |
we all stand much on q level; nobody |
worships man simply for mis- money and
money is the only point of difference be
tween one man and another. As for man |
ners and education, Mrs. Shoddy, with her |
ffty thousand dollars worth OF jewellery,
isn't fit to be compared with Lowell fac
tory girl
And may I ask what brought you 70
America, Mr.. Pocock p az
"A row with my employers. Cunning
ham and Clifton, having become rich men,
forgot their position, and trod on my toes
You understand me- Mr.. Cranbrook-they
wounded my feelings, and quilted them.
Yo1'Ye been settled here some time p
Nearly four years, ana I sm dolng
aourishing business. But wish to make
one remark, Mr.. Oranbrook. When you
return to London, and tell Cunningham
and Clifton that you have seen me, they
will probably denounce me as q thief-Tn
explain Why lr
The tradesmsn rose from his chair, and,
small safe, produced book,
shaped something like the books in which
enter their Bills Payable and
their Bills Receivable, except that the vol
ume before US was much thicker.
"This work." continued Mr.. Pocock,
q once belonged to Cunningham and Cliff
ton, but az sll the entries in it bad been
made by myself, and as they bad treated
me with the blaekest ingratitude, resolV- |
ed to punish them by carrying it with me
10 America. This book, Mr.. Oranbrook,
has been the foundation Of my fortunes.
told you Just now, sir, that America is 80
sislly and politically republican country,
but the Americans love TO talk about the
British sristoerAcy; and you may judge of
he enthusiasm which this book has created,
when tell you that it contains fac simile
impressions of the feet of large proper
lion of the peersge and baronetsge."
"Mine among the number, suspect,
Mr. Pocock" ,'..-
"You are right sir. Let me. turn to the
index. Folio 262. Yes cir. Here you are,
Lionel CrsDbrook; name and address
in your own handwriting. al
wsys begged gentlemen TO sign their name
and address 10 the folio containing their
foot measurement The consequence is
that this Ia a book of fashionable auto
graphs, to say nothing of the pleasure e1-
by our young Washington
dHndies on discovering that Lord eules |
hRs an enlargement of the great toe joints,
and that the Marquis of Wyvern owns the |
smallest foot in London. Yes, sir, that |
book has been the making Of me, and moth
irg will induce me to part with it. was
anLrested to send it for exhibition to the
New York Sanitary Fair, but declined,
lest it should be lost in the trsnsit-while |
Barnum has over and over again offered 8
fabulous price for 1t for his Museum
"IsupPose you keep similar book for
The fashionable feet of America p
@Most certainly. Here it is. Valuable,
Of course, in practical point Of view, IS
the measures of my best GUS
TONERS but not SO interesting as its Eng
lish companion. You will scarcely believe
how the latter has been run after. have
had half dozen ladies day in their car
riages here to zee it; and they alwsys re.
serve their farewell look for the elegant
little foot of Lord WyVern."
N suppose the American book can't
show anything 80 smSll2"
ain one einstance it can, sir" replied Mr..
Pocook, grSvely. 'tAllow me to turn 10
the index. There it is. Folio 79.n
.,HLeutenant Van Rensselaer, ct The 228th
New York. That's Dutch name, isn't
ii2" Hal -s
"The name is Dutch, Mr.. Crsnbrook,
but the family is very ancient and honorA-
bic. They settled near Albany, in the
State of New York, two centuries ago.
And now, sir, would you like TO see the
lieutensnts boots2'
Mr.. Pocock smoke with such deep solem.