Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-01-19
GREEN MANTLE.
A TAEE OF OLD MANCHESTER.

muC1 10 put IN Enem so when L had m
ished my schoOl-days-an event which
occurred tolerably early-I was packed
off to Manchester to serve an apprentice
ship In a Manchester warehouse.
[ had plenty of work there and some
little pay, and when my father had found
me cheap lodging in the house of an ell
derly couple, and had arranged the pay
ment with them so as to leave me a small
sum for pocket money, he bade 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 a brief holiday for the
purpose, and | was terrible lonely in the
busy pOpulous town [ knew nobody
was shy of making acquaintances my
companions in the warehouse were off
hand, rattling fellows, little suited to my
taste; so [ subsided into my quiet lodg-
ings, read, or rather devoured all the
books I could lay my hands on, and grew
up a solitary in the midst of thousands
One passion l had, and that was to hunt
up every relic of antiquity L could pos
sibly manage to travel to; and there was
not an old hall or an old church within 3
circuit of twelve or fourteen miles that !
did not make pilgrimage to.
The vestiges Of cd Manchester claimed
particular attention, and I haunted the
neighborhood of the college and the old
church, looking at the outsides of old
houses (I was too shy to think of asking
permission to enter any of them) until I
knew every chink and Granny in their
weather beaten faces, and came to look
upon them as my most intimate friends.
Some of them were public houses, and
ventured timidly, and at intervals, into
these, calling medestly for a glass of ale,
and peering into the odd hooks and cor
ners, ducking under the heavy beams, and
trying vainly to look through the old
green glass which obscured the long, low
windows.
Long before my apprenticeship had
concluded, l found myself permanently
installed in the Office, or counting house
as 1t was more grandiloquently called, and
that, no doubt, was the fttest place for
me as years passed on, I became, by
translation from stool to stool, packing
clerk, invoice clerk and book-keeper,
obtaining an advance of wages with each
position, until, as book-keeper, I was
munifcently paid at the rate Of one hun
dred and fifty pounds a year, and had
reached the summit of my ambition.
During my brief visits to the library at
the old college. [ picked up a sort of ac-
quaintance with one of It's constant fire.
quenters, the mustiest old book-worm in
the lot, whom I found when I went in
and left there when I 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 without them. He was a
strange figure, dressed in a suit of rusty
black, with neckerchief twisted round
his throat with a sort of wisp, pair of
great google spectacles upon his nose, and
with two, three, or four folios usually
arranged around him, one for reading, the
others for comparison and reference.
had the good fortune once to hand him a
ponderous tome which had slipped from
his knees while he was intent upon anoth-
er placed upon the stand before him
and after that time as if by chance he
glanced up, which might happen once in
a month perhaps, while [ was IN the
reading room, l was sure of kindly nod
at least before he glanced down again.
Once, in difficulty, IventUred to refer
to him, and [ was not a little astonished
by the food of eruditiOn poured in con-
sequence upon me. He knew everything
that had been written on the subject, and
gave me the key to nay puzzle Immediately
together with half hundred references
wherewith still further to elucidate it.
Afterwards our relationship became al
most that of master and pupil; and
may say that we became in some sort
friends, though our only place of friend
ship was the library.
The rule of our Office was, that every
one employed should be there and al
work at nine o'clock in the morning and
accordingly at twenty minutes before
nine, precisely, I passed the clock IN the
old church tower on my way to it. l be-
lieve that every clock in the back street o.
StrangeWays IN which | lived was timed
by my movements, much in the same way
in which my watch was timed by the
church clock as [ passed. From Ions
habit this comparison had become a ne
cessity, and the only temptation l eval
had to omit it was Occasioned by the
passing the same spot, at my precise mo-
ment, of young lady dressed IN greer
mantle, whom [ met morning after morn
| ing. and whose fresh face I got to lool
] for until I fancied that missing it WoulC
almost cast a gloom upon the day. L
was long before I did miss it month aftel
month through the long winter, wet OF
| drv. hail, rain, or snow, at twenty min
utes to nine [ met Greenmantle, as | cal
| led her in my own thoughts, opposite tht
old church tower. Very soon | knew
| her as we'll as any old house in the city
or out of it, and could have described
every fold in her dress and every featur
lin her sweet face, but I had no one t.
describe them to at that time, and
I am not going to begin now.
i was a young man of fve-and-twent
then, but as shame faced as a girl if
fancied that Greenmantle looked in m
direction, I colored to the top ofmy hea
[ believe, and hastened onward if sh
passed without appearing to notice me,
was miserable for the day.
Gradually put together little histO
~ for her, but as it was incorrect exceE
in two of more insignificant particulars
it need not be detailed here. She ha
usually roll of music with her, so
. knew she was a gOverness somewhere, an
J that was all that I could make out wit
certainty. [ wanted to know all aboU
: her. I had got to love her before I ha
exchanged a word, or even nod wit
her. Her face was the index to all good
ness, and felt that must win her, or dit
IF I was as shy as a girl, I was every b
!, neighbors' equanimity by startingfr from N
lodgings ten minutes before my accuston
ed time, and so persuading them thf
every clock in the street was ten minute
; behind time. But I missed seeing Greer
mantle. ran back, indeed, just in tin
to see her skirt disappear in the distar
: crowd but that did not content me, fl
: weeks I became a true time keeper agai
Then tried being late; l left my LODI
ings at the accustomed hour, indeed bI
Ioitered upon the road, and Greenmal
tie passed me almost at my own street en-