The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1867-03-28
VOL. XXXVH.i
THE aRocERs STORY

. lazy, shady place where the green
| blinds were forever closed, and where
there was so little passing that spires OF
grass grew here and there along the flag
! stones, and the stone curbs of the iron
rallied areas were fringed with soft green
moss A very quiet place at most times
/ but late one autumn afternoon strange
cry sounded through it, which awakened
all its echoes and called curious faces to
the doors and windows.
Stop, thiefr
The strong voice Of q policeman utter
ed the cry at first, and the shrill trebel
OF two boys at play near by took it up
and repeated it, and by snnd-by there was
a full, deep chorus, like the cry of a
pack of hounds--a sound you might
have known at any distance, however
ignorant you are of tue language, to be
the cry of men who hunted something.
Policemen with their clubs, errand-
boys with their bundles, bakers with
their baskets on their arms, young gen.
tlemen Just released from the academy
close at hand, and ragged urchins whose
| school house was the gutter, all joined
together in the hot pursuit, and followed
| the miserable object with bare, begrim-
m ed feet and hatless heads that fitted
along before them with speed which
only fear could lend to one SO worn and
wretched--a speed which kept the crowd
long way off, while the burliest Of his
pursuers painted for breath.
They were out of sight in a moment,
but in little while the cry was heard
that the thief had baffied them, and some
among the crowd rushed back to see If
their prey had doubled on his track, and
others, sulky and indignant with the
useless chase, came back muttering ang-
rily, or swearing with many bitter oaths
that they would have him yet. One po-
liceman, well fed fellow with crimson
face, made quite a hero of himself, by
asserting that he knew the fellow and
would trap him before sundown. There
was q good deal of sympathy for the
gentleman who lost the pocket handker-
chief, but none that I could hear for the
poor degraded wretch who had purloin-
ed it, until placid voice at my elbow
uttered the following words, apparently
in soliloquy:
We'll, may be wrong, but l some.
how hope they won't catch him.
turned in surprise, and confronted
our grocer, on whose steps had sought
shelter from the crowd, which, at such
a moment, could not be expected to
think much Of the safety of woman.
Our grocer was portly man with
shining bald head fringed by ring of
white hair, like the tonsure of Ro-
man Catholic priest, and wearing at
the moment Holland apron and a short
blue jacket.
.Pes'm,' he went on, 4 hope the mis-
erable, starved looking creature will get
off, 5lE
Then you don't believe he picked the
gentleman's pocket ? said l.
I'm afraid it's only too certain that he
did. ma'am,' said the man shaking his
head. He looked straight at me as he
passed, and he had hungry desperate
eyes that looked like theft--murder, too,
for that matter"
And yet you want him to escape when
he has broken the laws of the land and
will probably do SO again
God forbid that 1 should help to
break the laws said the old grocer
Good men make them and they are
right; but there are other laws that 1
read in my old Bible Sunday nights that
seem to be binding. One of them is
DO unto others as you would that others
should do unto you,' and another, Love
thy neighbor as thyself When re-
member these words, think We may be
too hard gith poor, sinful fellow being,
and not go beyond the limits of the law
either.
The rich gentleman who had his pock
et picked will go home and find 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 has stole, for
enough to get them. Somehow, if 1
could. 1 wouldn't have him hunted down
tonight vow I wouldn't.
Still, don't blame those young folks;
I'd have been as furious in the chase as
any Of EN-, years ago, but learnt q les
son once that never forgot, and hope
1 never may. was young man and
! poor one then, and had a hard struggle
to make my little shop keep my family.
1t was only by pinching and shaving, and
keeping . sharp lookout for every bar
gain, that managed it at sill.
Now and then when a foreign ship
came to port with load of ruined pine
apples. or decayed oranges, bought 8
lot of these. and charging small profit,