Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-07-09
9flefteo misceIlanp.
MY GRANDFATHER,S WATCH.

HAD been less than three months in
New York, and if was not actually al
i. ready in love was quite ready to affirm
as much, if fitting occasion should be
given me- Moreover, with worldly wis
dom beyond my years, had suffered my
young affections to 60 out toward no less
q parsonage than Miss De Silver, the
bankers daughter. Fortune and my
aunt's responsibility had even 80 far aided
me that l felt myself at liberty, with o
little extra courage, to call on her even at
her own lordly home.
The determination to call was a thing
by itself, however, as an examination of
my wardrobe revealed the unpleasant fact
that my present supplies would hardly ar
ray me in keeping with what might there
be expected. Solomon could have beaten
me entirely. So could the lilies of almost
any valley.
b My slender salary as yet offered me no
resources, nor would it for another month
I was at my wits end, or thereabouts,
when an idea struck me. The Chersons
were always fertile in ideas, and was not
I, Richard, the heir of all the Chsrsons
And had not inherited my grandfather's
watchs Did it not, even then, tick drow-
silly in its swollen fobs
Now this chronometer was of the an
cient style; made in day when the pre-
cious metals seem to have been of no &C
count whatever. 1t was a sort of gold
mine, with time, piece hidden away in
the heart of it. Small it may be fora
gold mine, but decidedly large for watch
1t was one of those watches which impart
an air of antique aristocracy to old gentle
men with good clothes, and affected BY
- them for the same reason that the "shab-
by genteel" families purchase only fine
old furniture. @ slfr esI
"Sell it?" No, oy no means; but l
thought of Miss De Silver, and of her fa-
ther, and determined to employ it as
= collatersi could redeem it at any time.
Some one had explained to me the mean
sing of "three golden balls together" and
I forthwith sailed out that evening to
search for the dangling arms of the old
Lombard usurers. ,.,-..,
They were conspicuously large and
bright over the door to which they attract
ed me, but the musty old gentleman in a
square velvet cap, who took my gold mine
in his fat and dirty fingers, did not realize
my ideal of Lombard. From the ap
pearance of the crowded shelves around
him, however, he was clearly prepared to
realize on anything else. Such a museum
of incongruous commodities L had never
seen before. Surely he was social
wrecker, and these were the spoils and
waits of innumerable human craft that
had gone ashore upon the shoals of New
York life Describe thems No, for Ian
guage has limits to its powers, and so has
even Imagination. -
'a9 was not the first customer attended to,
however, for fair young girl before me
inn VI xuh;Io =, Ia,,
balanced in his hand what seemed to be a
brooch of some beauty and value
thought that it contained tress of dark
hair; that or something else Of the keep
sake kind.
"Ten dollar Not so mosh as dat. Five
dollar ishs ALL" 81 @b&a SssS
"ODly five dollars Why, it is worth
forty, and | must have at least ten +"
GO Musht' is pig vord, my tear. l gives
you but five." -. 10y
The girls face was very pale, and hel
thin lips closed with an expression almost
of agony, as she sighed her final assentto
the amount of the proposed loan. ael
ticket was quickly made out, and could
but note as she turned to 60 out with thai
and the money grasped tightly in her Lit.
tile hand, that for all her paleness and heI
sorrow she was indeed fair, very fair.
How mosh you want on dis watch, :"
The harsh and grating voice of "my
uncle" did much to dispose Of certain
tingling sensation, as of many bushes
with which had passed under the golden
balls. therefore boldly replied: T4
"About hundred, reckon"
ateA hundard dollars Oh, veil, that isl
nonsense. We only lends SO mosh as
twenty-five. Dat ish de law, my poy."
"Bother the law |"
$3.50 shay L; it bodders me verl' mosi
indeed, but dosh not ever break de law.
"How shall / work it thenf Ther'
must be some way" @
"Dare ish many ways, but dish concerr
minds de law. / dell you-I lets you have
twenty-five on de watch and twenty iv,
on de chain ?"
"That won't make it up"
"Den l takes de chain for de twenty
i've, an you takes de watch to de dianont
brokers' "a .ats ,gfI ..
A few moments conversation having