The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1866-06-21

"
go beyond the limits Of the law either.
"That rich gentleman who had his
pocket picked, will go home to fine
dinner and bottle of wine, no doubt, and
the wretch of thief may have crust of
bread and glass of burning gin, if he
can sell or pawn what he stole for enough
to get them. Somehow, if l could, l
wouldn't have him hunted down TO- nj ight-
I vow I wouldn't.
"StiTl, | don't blame those young fell
lows; I'd have been as furious in the
chase as any of 'em years ago but learnt
lesson once that never have forgotten,
and hope [ never may. l was young
man, and poor one then, and had a hard
strug ggle to make my little shop keep my
little family. 1t was only by -pinching
and saving, and keeping sharp lookout
for every bargain, thaf1 managed it at all.
awe lived in a shabby street, and had
only very poor customers. A loaf of
bread, quarter of a pound Of butter, and
TWO ounces of black tea was quite an order,
and most of those who came wanted trust
tAs for laying in fine fruit or vegeta-
bles, [ never thought OF. such folly. Dia-
monds would have been as saleable in that
part of the city, where waSherwomen and
the poorest laboring men were the aris-
tocracy.
"Now and then, when foreign ship
came to port with load Of ruined pine
apples, or decayed oranges, l bought a lot
of these, and, charging the next thing to
nothing, sold them easily enough. Altho',
| own my wife used to say the miserable
babies, who rolled about the cutters, died
off faster after every stock of dam aged
foreign fruit l sold in the old shop, ard
I'm afraid that she was right Well, as
I told you, struggled along as best |
might, and after while things began to
improve, and l began to have visions of a
clean store in good street, when laid
down to rest at night.
$50 one day when / had been to mar
ket I brought home half dozen hams
and hung them up about the door, more
for show than anything else, for hams
were a grand holiday dinner in those
regions, and not an everyday affair l can
tell you They went off slowly, as l
thought they would. Now and then some
one would come in for a pound, and once
l sold half of the smallest one to woman
who wanted it for her Sunday dinner
She was to pay me on Monday morning,
but she never did, for on Sunday night
her husband killed her with rum bottle,
and they took her body past my shop with
it's poor head all beaten out of shape and
bloody.
"And so the hams hung there through
the summer and through the fall, and
quite on into the winter.
at was just as the December nights
began to grow long and dark and cold,
that l noticed a Lew policeman on our
beat-a young, handsome looking fellow,
with very bright eyes, but with such thin
cheeks aud hands, although he seemed to
be powerfully built and made for rather
stout man, that could not help watching
him, and wondering whether he had been
i'll or not. The first time that | noticed
him, was about sunset, and he passed and
repassed my window a dozen times, look
ing all the while straight at those hams.
which dangled from the frame of the
awning. Il hope he means to buy one,'
| said to my wife, as we sat together over
the tea table 'and shouldn't wonder if
he did, for he seems to have taken quite
fancy to them
"But the evening passed, and though l
saw him every now and then on the other
side of the way, looking across with his
bright eyes straight at the hams, he did
not come in or speak to me Oh the sub
ject. And so | made up my mind that
he would send for it in the morning, and
somehow made sure Of it thatSw heuever
l saw a decent looking woman go by with
a basket on her arm, said, That's the
policeman's wife coming after the ham
I was mistaken, however; and alter the
street lamps were lighted that night l
began to see the man pacing up and down,
up and down, up and down, with his eyes
still fixed as they had been the night pre-
vious upon the hams. Once lie caught
me peeping at him, and then be turned
so red and looked at me with such a wolf
ish glitter in his eyes, that grew angry
and said to myself, Its well that keeping
unsaleable articles isn't crime In this
country, for if it was I should expect to
be arrested So | gave him back his
look, turned on my heel, and walked back
into the shop. l did not see him again
that night; but long after everything had
been taken in and locked up, and / was
snug in bed, l heard a tramp, tramp,
tramp, upon the pavement, and knew it
was the new policeman, and that he was
looking at the hooks where the hams hung,
as we'll as though | had seen him.
"On the third evening he was there
again that, you may say, was no wonder,
for it was his duty to be upon that beat
and no other but it was curious that he
should keep on staring at those hams with
those bright, wolish eyes of his. / didn't