Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-01-26
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"A PERFECT TREASURE.

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lam not the man to have hobbies, far
from it,, but everybody, | suppose, likes
one thing more than another, and what
like is plate good serviceable gold aud sill
YER. such as is pleasant to see upon ones
table, whether by sunshine or candle-light,
and which one likes ones guests to see. 1t
is whisperediby malignant persons ESQ at
least certain good natured friends tell me),
that should not give 40 many dinner7
parties, If 1t were not to exhibit these
costly articles Il am not conscious Of such
a motive for my hospitality but If it ex-
istI It need not surely beObjected to ! 1t iSI
who have to pay for the weakness, and not
my friends, as happens in someCase could
name. II l possessed a. selection of the
most hideous china in the whole world,
and filled my ldmwiDg-rooms with UNI
happy persons after diuner, who we're COM
pelled to bow down before Bal and the
Dragon (if may say so without impiety),
as Colonel TwanlIay does, for instance, then
| / grant you there would be some ground of
complaint; or If invited people to ''at
homes" every Wednesday evening Ia most
inpertinent form Of invitation, in my opin-
ion) in order that they should have
| the pleasure of hearing me confute Pro-
fessor Piebald upon the question of the
| Theory of Development as my good friend
| DIR. Twiste is In the habit of doing; or l
had a daughter with high notes, and in
weighed the unwary with the bait of "a
| little musiee," like my neighbor, the Hon.
| Mrs. Matcham, so proud and stuck up,
that she is as often as not called Lucifer
Matcham, who, dare say, thinks her in
vitations quite an honor to the recipients.
But there; Ihave no patience to speak of
such people. These, forsOoth, are the per-
sonS-lthese, with their tea and thin bread
and butter, and thEee-penny-worth of
cream, and with what they call IA light re-
| treshment" to follow, weak lemonade and
cheap ices; t0charge me with the crime of
Ostentation ~ uCslr.fy. .nta,I. :arsyy
| 1t was not looking at my gold and silver
| plate, | suppose, which made my mother
In-law bilious; she might have stopped a
long time, at some other houses /
could name, withot getting the quality, or
even the quantity, of food that would pro-
duoe an indisposition of that kind. Mind,
| Idon't blame her; she gave way to an amia-
BILE weakness lit was trutfles), poor lady,
and she suffered for it more than enough.
Neither was it mere OsteDtation, sup
| iose, that caused me to provide her with q
Mck-nurse-M Maqueechy. NY wife, of
rourse, did everything she could for her
lnOther but ours Is large household, and
we see good deal of company; SO we
thought it best to provide person exclu-
| hivelY to wait upon her. We had the high
st written testimonials as to character,
and her behavior was everything we could
wish,u Instead of interfering" and setting
the other dOmestics by the ears, as persons
| If her class are accused of doing, she kept
| ,,I rbos ntrfh
wanted, she would fetch 1t herself, rather
than give anybody trouble. / used to meet
| her walking all over the house upon these
brands, and noticed, to her great, credit,
shat though she must have weighed nearly
| twelve stone, she made no noise. y.,- ..,
| She so won upon me, indeed, for am not
1t all man to be familiar with my rinferi-
Jrs, and should certainly not stakes pleas
Hre in exhibiting my plate to amaid7of-all-
work or q crossing as some peo-
pie have been so good as to affirm, say /
was so pleased with Mrs. Maqueeehy' quiet
and respectful manners, that, finding her
upon one occasion in the dining=room ad-
niring my two new shield shaped, salvers
upon the side-board, l took pains to explain
| 10 her the design of the, engraving, and es-
| pecially the embossed cipher; with which
der intelligent mind was highly pleased,
In short, she was a perfect treasure, and If
we had wanted q hOusekeeper, or any con-
hdential servant of that sort, should GER
tainly have retained Mrs. Maqueechy in
| that position, after her duties as a sick
nurse were concluded; and in that idea my
II wife entirely oopeurred. Mrs, Maqueechy
| was neither young nor good looking, but a
more thoroughly respectable looking per-
II ION, in her condition of life, twas not easy
Il %, find.i Although had every confidence
in Bowles-Bowles has had the charge of
L .ny plate for these ten years-yet there
| eemed somehow to be a double warranty
| Cor the safeguard of my property, while
| Mrs. Maqueechy was under my roof. She
was, not q suspicious person, far from it;
| put she once remarked to me, in a meaning
way, that the charge of so much valuable
slate was great responsibility, and would
/ he even temptation to some people; and
aw she kept her eye on Bowles. AS the
vent proved, alas! Mrs. yMaqueechy had
,ply too good reasons to do so.
| Last Wednesday, we happened to- have
| 'ather a large dinner-party had been
/ lining out good deal at various clubs late
/ y, and Of course it was necessary to invite
| by entertainer in return. 1t is not that /
/ viii ask anybody to come and admire my
/ olate, but certainly some of the men were
/ siot Intimate friends of mine, but only ac-
/ luaintances. However, l suppose the fact
/ persons belonging to such clubs as | ire-
| IueHk is asufficient guaranty for their So
| 'iaI position. They were quite good enough,
| la my opinion, to meet Mrs. Lueifer Match
m at all events, and they met her. The
| 1'inber had gone off uneomInonly wellEl-
The shield-shaped salversl had beenvery
| much admired, and so had my new tureen.
| The ladies had retired to the drawing-room,
tndI had inst passed the elvine-leaf claret-
lug, To Colonel Twankay (on which the old
hunks did not pass the slightest remark,
Dy the by, when Bowles stopped down
and whispered in my ear that a person
Wished to see me Id the hall, upon very I'M
portant business 'H4 fE' 9s1A! lsa9r'
"Ask him what It is," said 1. SIT is i'm
possible that I can leave my guests" nn 81
IL did ask him, sir, and he refuses to
tate;;o replied Bowles, contidentially. t-It
Is my opinion he's begging-letter inn
p0stOr; but he says he must see you in
| pefsOn.n Nll s3U1WoI la hHtO yI .ldr hi
bIlwas upon the point of saying, "Tell
him to leave the house, when something
| ar rothep in Bowles' manner struck me SO
| decidedly that LresOlved not to do so. Why
| houid he say man, about whom hecould
know nothing, was beggiDg-letter impos-
or2q Perhaps placed rather too much
confidence I'm my butler, as Mrs. Maqueechy
had limited, that very morning. Aetuated
ny a. vague presentiment of distrust and
danger, rose from the table, made o. hasty
lLpoiogy tony friends, and went with Bow
ies into the hall A shabby-genteel sort oi
,!person, answering, indeed, very t0lerably
10 my mans description of him, was stand
ng by the umbrella stall.
Y1SWhat isityou want with me, sir ~ said
in amagesterial tone. irlsS .sfengl7aulli
sli"Oue minutes private conversation with
you, replied he,Jwith glance at the but