Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-12-24
MIR, BAKERS RING.

all his life told the truth. Now, II Is 80
m1nifcstly improbable that the most con.
sstent man should protraet long and
useful career of ory.telling to such ex.
traOrdlnary limits, without at some period
telling the truth by sheer misadventure,
that II is quite likely Mr. Baker may have
committed himself In this instance. At
| least, the time has arrived for human ma
ture to assert itself, according to the doc
| trine of averages.
"Only once, gentlemen" said Mr.. b.,
"have been deceived. William Henry
keeps his eyes open, in general way
| William Henry also takes The liberty of
seeing out Of them He uses them, ms n
rule, for purposes of observation, gentle
men. Still, | admit tods, once, taken in
by Ms dead n swindle MS could be; | am not
ashamed To own IL. ! made money by IT,,
after all but irds swindled
at was about diamond ring knew
the fellow who had II for many years in
the way of business. Ilc was CONNER
cial traveller, and used always to flash
this ring about whenever he came round
on his journeys. A jewelcr friend of
mine, who happened 10 be in my office
once when Mr.. Block called, asked,
III remember, TO be allowed to
examine III and had pronounced
tho stones TO be diamonds OF the
purcst water, telling me afterwards
the ring was worth about seventy
pounds. Mr.. Blocks initials were
4, engraved inside the hoop of the ring
'R b. and besides that, u was ring of
peculiar and rather old fashioned make
Indeed, having once seen the ring, no one
would be likely to mistake it for another.
Well, Mr.. Block got into difficulties, and
went so entirely to the bad, that | never
saw or heard anything more of him. But
about two years afterwards, whilst walk.
ing down n back street, my eye was taken
| by n ring exhibited in n pawnbroker's
window MIR. Blocks ring | exclaimed
| directly I'll swear to it, IL was In n
tray with n number of very secdy looking
rings, and was as discolored and dirty as
they were. / went into the shop and
asked to look at it. The .pawnbroker, an
old jew, saId, Yesh / might see his ringsh;
but he didn't know mosh about ringsh
himshelf They wosh unredeemed pledges,
-thash what they wosh-and they wosh
oil marked at the monish advanshed upon
them with n very shmall oveTplus for in
teresh-thash all he knew
| "Therc was no mistake about 1t. II was
| Mr.. Blocks ring and had his initials in
side. But how did the jew get itp He
| would soon tell me. Referring to his
book, he found that 1t had been pawned
two years ago in the name of Smith
'Thash all he knew. Would / buyY II
wosh dirt sheap-three poundsh twelve /;
and cosht him all the monish !
| "'Throe pounds twelvep | repeated,
thinking he had made mistake; for
the ring was worth twenty times that
amount
"Well, If 1t was too dear, he had some
sheaper ones,--bcautiful ringsh, he dare
shay,-but he knew 80 little about ringsh
you shee, cxshept that he always ad
vanished too mosh monish on them. One
couldn't understand everything Ia his
bishnish, you shee, from ilat,ironsh to dia-
monsh.'
al bought the ring, after beating the
jew down half u crown, partly to prevent
his suspecting its value, and partly-well
knowing the disposition Of the peculiar
people-to oblige him.
II wore my new purchase about, with
no little inward satisfaction at having bet
tered jew at II bargain. In my own
mind, | accounted for its coming into his
Block must have sold the ring when in
difficulties to some one else. II was quite
certain Mr. Block had not pawned it at
the Jews, or the jew would have known
its value. The ring must, then, have
either been lost by, or stolen from a sub
sequent possessor; and the finder or thief
whichever 1t happened to be), being igno.
| rant of its value, had taken 1t to the Jew,
| who knew no better.
| "Thoro is n certain commercial club in
our town, which occasionally visit. The
members are of an easy and somewhat
lively disposition generally given to in
dulge in that playful style of banter popu-
larly known as chaff My diamond ring
came in for u good share of it. | can stand
chah as well as most men; but put it to
| you, II, when you know very we'll your
| brilliants are real, II isn't little annoying
for the ohatr of whole body of people
to u sume the character of persistent dis
belief In tho value of your iewelryP For
instance, the waiter answers the bell.
GO Did any gentleman ringY
"'O, yes one of the members would
retort; 1t was the gentleman with the
paste diamonds
"Again, there are kinds of sham bril-
liants known as Irish Diamonds and Isle
of Wight Diamonds. The club (not one
or two members, but the whole body) ro.
fused to recognize such distinctions, and
insisted on designating the whole class of
shams as Bakers Diamonds Bakers
Paste my gems were also denominated
They actually sent me by post circular
of somebody's Baking Powder adding to
it at the end, where 1t says the public is
respectfully cautioned against spurious
limitations, but more particularly against a
$pee'ous preparation 70 dectice de uacdry
kno,on as Boxers "PdSte."' Now, after
two or three weeks, this became tirosome.
] Still, took no notice, and affected not to
think the remarks intended for me.
81 hardly know what made me 60 and
call on my friend, the jeweler. It was
not that had any doubt of the genuine.
ness of the diamonds, especially ms he was
the very man who had before valued Mr..
| Blocks ring at seventy pounds. But II
had been so dinned into my head they
were false, that wanted just a formal
confirmation of the estimate he had pre-
viously formed of their worth.
40 yes said my friend, the jeweler;
Il recognize the ring again directly.
Want to know what it's worthP (Iio
put II in the scales) 'Well-h'm-about
seyen.and-twenty shillings for old gold
go Eth, said !, as pale as turnip. why,
didn't you tell me it was worth seventy
| poundsN
eyes he answered; when it had
diamonds in it--not when II has paste,
| NhN uNNI, hut ltWtlcT
suggested, that on Mr. Block getting into
difficulties, the first thing he did was to
sell the diamonds out of his ring, and get
their places supplied with paste, whilst
finally, he had pSwned it himself with the
Jew, as paste ring
"'Well, William Henry said to my
SELF the jew has iewed you, and the
club has chaifed you, and you may consid.
er yourself trod upon, after the manner OF
speaking
+" But the worm will turR.
"Did the jeweler let out diamonds on
hiroF l asked.
"He did,
"Wouid he have certain alteration
which l suggested, made in my ring in q
tortnight's timeP
"He would.
"And keep il secretr
Certainly, ,--husiness was business
a Al a