The Plymouth Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1869-1941, 1869-12-23
MR.. BAKERS RING.

m1nlfeStly lmpr0DaOle tnat the most COIL
sistent man should protraet long and
useful career of storytelling to such ex-
traordinary limits, without at some period
telling the truth by sheer misadventure,
that it is quite likely Mr.. Baker may have
committed himself In this instance. AT
least, the time HIS arrived for human ma
ture to assert itself, according to the doc
trine Of averages.
"Onlv once. gentlemen" said Mr.. b.,
shave l 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, as
rule, for purposes of observation, gentle
men. Still, admit aons, once, taken in
by as dead swindle as could be; l am not
ashamed to own it. | made money by 1t,
after all but acas swindled.
at was about diamond ring. l knew
the fellow who had it for many years In
the way of business. He was CONNER
cial traveller, and used always to flash
this ring about whenever he came round
on his journeys. A jeweler friend OF
mine, who happened to be in my office
once when Mr. Block called, asked,
! | remember, to be allowed to
examine it; and had pronounced
the stones to be diamonds OF the
purest water, telling me afterwards
| the ring was worth about seventy
pounds Mr.. Blocks initials were
engraved inside the hoop of the ring
'R. B.; and besides that, it was a 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 l never
saw or heard anything more of him. But
about two years afterwards, whilst walk
| ing down a back street, my eye was taken
! by ring exhibited in a pawnbrOkers
window. MIR. Blocks ring exclaimed
directly 1ll swear to it. 1t was in
tray with number of very seedy-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
all marked at the mOnish advanshed upon
them with a very shmall overplus for in
teresh-thash all he knew
There was no mistake about 1t. TWAS
| Mr. Blocks ring, and had his initials in
side. But how did the Jew get it? He
would soon tell me- Referring to his
book, he found that it had been pawned
two years ago i'll the name of Smith
'Thash all he knew. Would | buy? 1t
wosh dirt sheap-three pOundsh twelve :;
and cosht him all the mOnish ?
"'Three pounds twelvep / repeated,
thinking he had made mistake; for
the ring was worth twenty times that
amount
"'Well, if it was too dear, he had some
sheaper ones,-beautiful ringsh, he dare
shay,-but lie knew so little about ringsh,
you shee, exshept that he always adj
vanished too mosh mOnish on them. One
couldn't understand everything III his
bishnish, you shee, from fiat ironsh to dia-
mOnsh.'
Il bought the ring, after beating the
Jew down half crown, partly to prevent
his suspecting its value, and partly-well
| knowing the disposition Of the peculiar
people-to oblige him.
wore my new purchase about, with
no little inward satisfaction at having bet
tered a Jew at bargain. In my own
mind, accounted for its coming into his
possession somewhat in this way: Mr..
Block must have sold the ring when in
difficulties to some one else. 1t 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 it happened to be), being igno-
rant of its value, had taken it to the Jew,
who knew no better.
There is certain commercial club in
our town, which l 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 chaf' My diamond ring
came in for good share of it. | can stand
Chatf as well as most men; but put it to
you, if, when you know very we'll your
brilliants are real, it isn't little annoying
for the chatf of a whole body of people
to sumo the character of persistent dis
belief in the value of your jewelrys For
instance, the waiter answers the bell.
g" Did any gentleman ring?'
go, yes one of the members would
retort; it 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 re-
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
1t at the end, where it says the public is
respectfully cautioned against spurious
limitations, but more particularly GQairast a
spectOuS preparation to deceice tie un1cary,
knOa0n as Bakers " Pdste"' Now, after
two or three weeks, this became tiresome.
Still, took no notice. and affected not to
think the remarks intended for me-
hardly know what made me 90 and
call on my friend, the ieweler 1t was
not that had any doubt of the genuine
ness OF the diamonds, especially as he was
the very man who had before valued Mr.
Blocks ring at seventy pounds. But it
had been so dinned into my head thew
J were false, that l wanted just formal
confirmation of the estimate he had pre-
viOusly formed of their worth.
$50 yes said my friend, the ieweler ;
recognize the ring again directly.
Want to know what it's WORTH 0fe
put it in the scales) 'Well-h'm-about
seven-and-twenty shillings for old gold
90 Eth, said l, as pale as turnip. why,
didn't you tell me it was worth seventy
pOunds?'
Yes he answered; when it had
diamonds in it-not when it has paste
taking the matter over, the JeweleI
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 pawned it himself with the
Jew, as a paste ring
"'Well, William Henry said I to my
t self, the Jew has jewed you, and the
club has chaffed you, and you may consid
;. er yourself trod upon, after the manner O
f speaking
But the worm will turn.
e "'D Did the jeweler let out diamonds OF
hire?' / asked.
| "He did,
7 Would he have certain alteration
which | suggested, made in my ring in
fOrtnight's timer