Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1866-08-02

do unto others as you would tina
others should do unto you,' ant
another, Love thy neighbor az
thyself.' When remember these
words, | think that you may bt
too hard with poor sinful fellow
2 being, and not go beyond the lin
riits of the law either.
!, "That rich gentleman who had
, his pocket picked will go home to
, a fine dinner and a bottle Of wine,
no doubt, and the wretch of a thief
may have a crust of bread and a
glass Of burning gin, if he can sell
, or pawn what he stole for enough
to get them. Somehow, if / could,
I wouldn't have him hunted down
tonight VOW / wouldn't"
] "Still, don't blame those young
| fellows; I'd have been as furious in
the chase as any Of 'em years ago ;
but 1 learnt a lesson once that |
never have forgotten, and hope I
never may. l was young man
and a poor one then, and had a
hard struggle to make my little
shop. keep my little family. 1t
was only by pinching and saving,
and keeping sharp lookout, for
every bargain, that | managed it
at ALL"
"We lived in a shabby street,
and had only very poor customers.
A loaf of bread, a quarter of a
pound of butter, and two ounces
of black tea, was quite an order,
and most of those who came want
ed trust"
Gas for laying in fine fruit or
vegetables, / never thought of such
a folly. Diamonds would have
been as saleable in that part of
! the city, where washerwomen and
the poor laboring men were the ar
istocracy."
"Now and then, when a foreign
ship came to port with a boat
load of ruined pineapples, or de-
cayed oranges, l bought a lot of
these, and charging next to nothing,
sold them easily enough; although
I own my wife used to say the
miserable babies, who rolled about
the cutters, died off faster after ev-
cry stock of damaged foreign fruit
I sold in the old shop, and I'm
afraid that she was right. Well,
as I told you, 1 struggled along as
best l might, and after awhile
things began to improve, and / be-
gan to have visions of clean store
in a good street when ] laid down
to rest at night"
$50 one day when I had been to
market, / brought home half a doz-
en- hams, and hung them up about
the door, more for show than any
thing else, for ham was great holi-
day dinner in those regions, and not
an every day affair | can tell you.
They went off slowly, as | Thought
they would. Now and then some
one would come in for a pound, and
once / sold half of the smallest one
to a woman who wanted it for her
Sunday dinner. She was to pay
me on Monday.morning, but never
did, for on Sunday night her hus-
band killed her with a rum bottle,
and they took her body past my
shop with its 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 win
ter" .., Ia s
cit was just as the December
nights began to grow long and
dark and cold, that I noticed a new
policeman. on our beat--a young,
handsome looking fellow, with
very bright eyes, but with such
thin cheeks and hands, although
he seemed to be powerfully built,
and made for rather stout man,
that I could not help watching
him, and wondering whether he
had been i'll or not. The first time
that I noticed him was about SUM-
set, and he passed and repassed
my window dozen times, looking
all the while straight at those hams,
which dangled from the frame of
the awning. I hope he means to
buy one,' / said to my wife, as we
sat together over the tea table !;
sand / shouldn't wonder if he did,
for he seems to have taken quite a
fancy to them
"Bnt the evening passed, and
though ! saw him every now and