The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-12-07

"Who may be upp
''The three forty-two, sir. She goes
off in sidin' till the Up Y passes, and
then she," here an air of hopeful vague
ness pervaded Lamps, "doos all as lays
in her power"
81 doubt i'll comprehend the arrange
ment."
~ doubt if anybody do, sir. She's a
Parliamentary, sir. And, you see, a
Parliamentary, or Skirmishun-"
"Do you mean an EXcursionp
"That's it, sir. A Parliamentary or a
SkirmiShun, she mostly docs go off into
a sidin'. But when she can get chance,
tied up into doin' all as" Lamps again
wore the air of u highly sanguine man
who hoped for the best;-"all as lays in
her power"
He then explained that porters on
duty being required to be i'll attendance
on the Parliamentary matron in ques-
ton, would doubtless turn NJ with the
gas. In the meantime, if the gentleman
would not very much object to the smell
of lamp-oil, and would accept the
warmth of the little room. The gem
tlcman being by this time very cold, in
stantly closed with the proposal.
A greasy little cabin it was, suggest
i've to the sense of smell, of cabin in
Whaler. But there was a bright fire
burning in its rusty CRATE, and on the
floor there stood n wooden stand of new
ly trimmed and lighted lamps, ready for
carriage service. They made a bright
show, and their light, and the warmth,
accounted for the popularity of the
room. as borne witness to by many i'm
prcssiOns of vclvcteen trousers on q
form by the fire, and many rounded
smcars and smudges of stopping velvet
cen shoulders on the adjacent wall.
Various untidy shelves accommodated a
quantity of lamps and oil-canS, and also
fragrant collection of what looked like
the pOcket-handkerchicfs of the whole
lamp family.
As Barbox Brothers $50 to call the
| traveller on the warranty of his luggage)
took his seat upon the form, and warm
ed his now ungloved hands at the fire,
he glanced aside at a little deal desk,
much blotched with ink, which his el-
bow touched. Upon it were some scraps
of coarse paper, and superannuated
steel pen in very reduced and gritty cir
cumstanceS.
From glancing at the scraps of paper,
he turned invOluntarily to his host and
said with some roughness,-
"Why, you are never Il poet, man"
| Lamps had certainly not the conven-
tional appearance of one, rs he stood
modestly rubbing his squad noise with
a handkerchief SO exceedingly oily
that he might have been in the act of
mistaking himself for one ofhis charges.
lie was spare man of about the Bar
box Brothers time of life, with his fea-
lures whmsically drawn upward as ifI
they were attracted by the roots of his
hair. He had peculiarly shining
transparent complexion, probably Occa-
stoned by constant oleaginous applica-
tion; and his attractive hair, being cut
short, and being grizzled, and standing
straight up on end as if it in its turn
were attracted by some invisible mag
net above it, the top of his head was
not very unlike a lampwick
But to be sure it's no business OF
mine" said Barbox Brothers. THAT
was an impcrtincnt observation on my
part. Be what you like
"Some people, sir" remarked Lamps,
IL
what they don't like"
Nobody knows that better than /
do" sighed the other. II have been
what | don't like, all my life"
"When | first took, sir" resumed
Lamps, "to composing little Comic
Songs-like-" :,
Barbox Brothers eyed him with great
disfavor.
To composing little Comic-Songs-
| llike.-and what was more hard,-to
singing 'em afterwards" said Lamps,
sit went against the grain at that
time, it did indeed
Something that was not all oil here
shining in Lamps eye. Barbox Brothers
withdrew his own a little Disconnected,
looked at the fire, and put foot on the
top bar "Why did You do it, then !"
he asked after short pause, abruptly
enough, but in u softer tone. "lf you
didn't want to do it, why did you do it'
Where did you sing themi Public
house ~
To which Mr.. Lamps returned the
curious reply: Bedside"
At this moment, while the traveller
looked at him for elucidation, Mugby
Junction started suddenly, trcmbled
violently, and opened its gas eyes.
"Shcs got upw Lamps announced, eX-
cited. What lays in her power Isl
sometimes more, and sometimes less;
but its laid in her power to get up to-
night, by George"
The legend "Barbox Brothers, in
large white letters on two black sur
faces. was very soon afterwards trund-
fling on truck through n silent street,
and, when the owner of the legend had
shivered on the pavement for half an
hour, what time the porter's knocks at
the Inn Door knocked up the whole
town first, and the Inn last, he CROPPED
his way into the close air of shut-up
house, and so groped between the sheets
of shut-up bed that seemed to have
been expressly refrigerated for him when
last made.
"You remember me, Young jackson
| "What do | remember, If not you
! You are my first remembrance. 1t was
Won who told me that was my name
Ii was YOU who told me that on every
twentieth of December my life had a
penitential anniversary in it called a
| nlTluudN. euppooo eAt' ''.S' :,
cation was truer than the first"
.swhat am I like, Young Jackson ~
"You are like blight all through the
wear, to me. You hard-lined, thin
Tipped, repressive, changeless woman
with a wax mask on. Iou are like the
Devil to me; most of all when you teach
me religious things, for You make me
abhor them"
"You remember me, Mr. Young Jack
sonin In another voice from another
quarter.
'.Most gratefully. sir. You were the
ray of hope and prospering ambition in
nv life. When / attended your course,
| believed that should come to be
great healer, and felt almost happy,
leeven though was still the one boar
der in the house with that horrible
mask, and ate and drank in silence
and constraint with the mask before
me, every day. AS l had done every,
u