Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-03-15
A TATE OF TWO CITIES.

Money-A Bride of Three Days.
Three weeks ago young man with
the bloom OF sixty-fve vetnal springs
upon his cheek and sixty-fve burrows on
his well-plowed brow, embarked at the
village OF St. Louis, which is somewhere
in the vicinity Of Carondelet City, Ms
souri,, on the deck Of magnificent
steamer, and booked himself for Mem
phis He had with him an Implement
with which he expected to grind cut, 10
the course Of years, fne fortune. And
his name it was Barbiere. he was a
descendant Of one Of the First Families
of France, in fact he was regular f. +.
+. er. His ancestors sscended The raging
Mississippi over one hundred years ago
in canoes, and he is the first one who has
ever attempted to return. He was not
an organ-grinder as some soothing reader
may conjecture; his profession is one of
the fine arts, which calls him daily into
communication with the highest classes
of society, and he has often Travelled up
and down the loftiest stairs in st. Louis.
But to come to the point at once, Mr.. f.
F. F. Barbere was scissors grinder, a
calling not to be sneezed at.
This young man had not seen his
mother for a good while, and on his way
down he fell 10 with q lot of other young
Adventures Of the mackerel persuasion,
who tried to make him drunk so they
might ride off on his scissors factory,
which they mistook for a velocipede
Their idea was to steal it from him and
start velocipede school in the Memphis
Custom House; but Barbiere, though not
in the habit of drinking when at home
with his ancestors, drank the boat dry
and was still the soberest boy 10 the
crowd. The mackerels concluded he was
the steam man aud decided to let him
pass. he did pass and arrived safely in
Memphis, and found that the place
had changed very much since his
people before him passed up the river.
Bsrbiere, though inexperienced in the
ways of the world, had served good APP
premiership in his business, and he had
determined that as journeyman scis-
sors grinder none should get ahead of
him. With an eye to economy, he
passed by the principal hotels and took
bunk at a colored boarding house on
DeSoto street, where he could look
through crack by night at the bayou
and learn new melodies, to practice him
self, from the strange cats who held
county conventions in the back yard
every night He promised to pay for
his board with such little chips and
whetstones as he might pick up during
the day, the deficit to be made up in
singing the piccaninies to sleep and
doing other family duties. He was get
ting along well until the third day, when
the tide Of his life and another's was
turned forever, he had the misfortune
shortly after that fatal third day to get
married, and here the plot of our hero's
life thickens into deep, dark shadow,
which may land him in the penitentiary
or the Tennessee Legislature. In his
rounds about the city one day-for he
had a postage stamp on his scissors fac
tory and was not afraid of the police
he happened to stop in front of clothes
cleaning establishment, in South Mem
phis, kept by French lady named Marie
Moushe, who, in her eight by ten boothe
carried on Aourishing trade in second.
nand women's clothing. She, too, was
young-just sixty-6ye also. Their eyes
met, aud they saw at glance that nature
had made them one. Marier dropped
colored chemisette which she was trying
to sell to a colored lady, and Barbisre
dropped,his scissors factory, thereby snap.
ping the big band which runs from the
bulls eye of the main engine to the oil
room, and then goes around the big bal
ance wheel which sets in motion and
regulates all the balance of the cotnpli-
Gated machinery, including the main
grindstone where scissors are sharpened
at twenty-five cents (no puff. By this
time BArbiere and Msrer were in each
others arms. Barbiere had always felt
that be was only one side of pair Of
scissors, and felt sure that he had found
the half which made him complete. He
had come across his scissor, aud what
nature had designed to be let no mau
dare unrivet. ,,-.-. !
The only thing that marred the joy of
their affinity on the occasion was that the
colored lady remarked, these are mine"
and left with the chcmisette too soon to
pay for it, and forgot to leave her address.
But Marier was happy. She felt that now
she could cut her way through the world.
True, he was rather young, bat time
would give him edge, and he would shear
her sorrows as well as her hair. A week
ago they we're married-no cards Marier
rugged herself outin the selsctss! bonnet
Of tbs 1910 style, tied . bapdsna across
her shoulders. wore Snuf.stained ging-
ham and jswelry to match. The cere.
mouy was witnessed by the boy who cuts