The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1869-12-10
8isteIIaneons SeIertiuns.
HOW NELLIE LEE WAS PAWNED.

j DNO-
col in circumstances which render j
at cessary for you to pawn your watch
have known men as rich and eminent
as you, sneak into temple of barte
where three golden balls shone conspi
cuous, aud under the name of JOhr
Jones deposit certain articles of jewelry
as security for certain triAing sums O
money.
was once walking the Strand, il
London, with a young cornet Of hussari
the son of s. wealthy nobleman, and th'
most expensive man in his regiment
Suddenly, as we were passingIthe resi-
dence of an industrious Jew, who avail
ed himself of spare capital to furnish
loans to friends in distress, my friend
the cornet, who, of course, was in muf
ii, said, hastily, Pray excuse me for &
momentP and Immediately bolted into
the pawnbroker's in broad daylight,
leaving me transfxed with astonishment
and some shame. Iu few minutes
he came jauntily out with a smiling
countenance, minus an elaborate Albert
chain that had been fastened across his
waistcoat.
What in the name of heaven, have
you been doingP l cried.
Merely spouting my ticker he said,
loud enough for all the passers-by to
hear.
confess I looked Indignantly at
him.
Pooh! don mind it he continued,
taking my arm, its nothing. / took g
fancy just now to go to Greenwich and
have blowout there; white-bait, q
bottle of Laftte, and all that sort o.
thing. / wanted you to come, but
recollected that had only couple o.
soyereigDs in my purse. Cabby will
cost nearly that, you know. So as ]
didn't know how you were off for tin
either, 1 Just stepped in and popped
my watch and chain. Got seven pounds
ds on them. About enough to do the
thing comfortably with. / shall send
my valet in the morning to take them
out. Here. cabP
And haiIing a Hanson that was
drifting down the Strand in search of a
fare, we jumped in and dove down to
Greenwich, where we ate one of those
elaborately compound repasts known as
white-bait dinners, for the reason that
the white-bsit forms the least portion Of
them.
l have known clergyman pawn a
diamond breastpin on rainy day, 10
order to raise enough of money to pay
his cab fare. l have known lot of lit
erary Bohemians in London and Paris,
sup off an evening coat or a Spanish
mantle. / once pswned two Dresden
china shepherdesses, and vase of the
same material, that ornamented my
mantlepice, iu order to raise the money
to buy the paper on which l wrote an
article for BlGckWoods Magazine that
brought me in fifty pounds. I have
been acquainted with the defendants of
the Medica in London, Paris Vienna,
and now I am going to tell you the re-
suits of my acquaintsnceship with them,
in New York.
don't share in the popular dislike
and contempt for pswnbrokers. l look
upon the pawnbroker as most useful
institution. He charges high rate of
interest, to be sure; but then look at
the pettiness of the sums he will lend.
He is accommodating, may say uni
versal, in his charities. Nothing comes
amiss to him. He will disburse on the
security of aring worth thousand dol
lars, or pair Of boots worth dollar and
a half. Nothing is too small for him ;
but no matter how valuable the article
is, he cannot be induced to lend above
a certain sum upon II. This is simply
his caution. The article may be stolen
or come in some improper manner,
when, of course, he would have to give
it up. He simply protects himself
l have known amiable paWnbrokers;
men who wept over the misfortunes of
their depositors. Who, if one came too
frequently to them with small articles,
would sigh heavily, and declare that it
was really dreadful to see gentleman
reduced to this state. Men who sbso-
lutely, on some occasions, let money
without adequate security Think of
that, worldlings and fast young men,
who abuse Moses because he closed on
your watches and rings when you did
not redeem them at the appointed time.
Think oft, l say l have known
pawnbroker lend money without secur-
Iity.
But my story.
There is certain side street running
across Broadway which 1 will, with
your permisson call Chicory street.
Chicory street is not its name, but as l
am about to tell you some private mat
tefs in connection with it, it would not
be either delicate or judicus if we're
to be too geographically correct.
In Chicory street resides a gentle
man named Lazarus Levi, Esq, whose
spacious old-fashioned house is the re-
pository of various articles of property
belonging 10 numberless enlightened
but distressed citizens Of the United
States. The lower story of Mr.. Lewis
dwelling is fitted up with a glass front,
very dingy and dusty, so that the sever
al articles exposed to view in. the win
dow are but dimly seen. There are
flutes, with tarnished-keys, that have
lain silent for years. The dust lies
thick on the em5ouchure of each: for
the lips that blew there the graduated
air have shrunk iuto mere skin long a.
go, and the agile fingers that ran over
the holes are now loose bones, that lie
here and there. never to hang together
en- earth again
There are opers-glasses, too; opera
glasses for every mode. From the an
tique species that our grsndmothers
used-a single tube, short and fat which
was intended to be pulled out like q
telescope, but which never would pull
out until the opera was over, and only
blackened the white gloves in which the
attempt was made-down to the large
and imposing modern lOrgnette with its
double tubes, and its complicated inter
ior, and little windglass in the centre
that winds it out into a telescope, or
fattens it up into pair Of spectacles.
How pregnant lesson lies in these op-
era-glasses in the pawnbroker's window
What stories of dissipation, Of feeting