Nebraska advertiser., 1869-01-14
OUR GR0OER'S STORY.
BY MARY KYnE pALnAs.

i learnt lesson once that / never
have forgotten, and / hope I never
may (said our grocery was q young
man and poor one then, and had &
hard struggle to make my little shor
keep my little family. it was only by
pinching and saving and keeping q
sharp lookout for every bargain that
managed at all.
We lived in q shabby street, and
had only very poor customers. A loaf
of bread, q garter of butter and two
ounces of black tea was quite an order,
and most Of those who came wanted
trust.
As for laying in fine fruit or vege-
tables never thought Of such a folly.
Diamonds would have been as salable
in that part.
I struggled along as best might,
and after while things began to i'm
prove, and began to have visions OF
q clean store in a good street when
lay down to r6st at night.
So one day brought home half q
dozen hams and hung them up about
the door, more for show than anything
else, for ham was a grand holiday
dinner in those regions, and not an
everyday affair, can tell you. They
went off slowly, as / thought they
would. Now and then some one
would come in for a pound, and once
1 sold half of the smallest to woman
who wanted it for her Sunday dinner.
And so the hams hung there through
the summer and through the fall, and
quite on into the winter.
1t was Just as the December nights
began to grow long and dark and cold
that noticed new policeman on our
beat-a young, handsOme-loOking fell
low, with very bright eyes, but with
such thin cheeks and hands, although
he seemed to be powerfully built, and
made for rather stout man, that I
could not help watching him, and
wondering whether he had been i'll or
not, The first time that noticed him
was about sunset, and he passed and
repassed my window dozen times,
looking all the while straight at those
hams, Wi1ielz siaDgied fF8m the frame
of the awning. "I hope he means to
buy One," said to my wife, as we sat
together over the tea-table; ''and I
shouldn't wonder if he did, for he
seems to have taken quite fancy to
them"
But the evening passed, and though
/ saw him every now and then on the
other side of the way, looking across
with his bright eyes straight at the
hams, he did not come in or speak to
me upon the subject. And so made
up nay mind that he would send for it
in the morning, and somehow made
so sure oft, that whenever I saw a de-
cent-looking young woman 90 by
with a basket on her arm, I said,
''That's the pOliceman's n's-wife coming
after the ham," I was mistaken,
however; and after the street lamps
were lighted that night began to see
the man again pacing up and down
up and down-up and dOWn-With
his eyes still fixed, as they had been
the previous night, upon the hams.
Once he caught me peeping at him,
and then he turned so red and looked
at me with such a wOlfish glitter in
his eyes, that l grew angry, and said
to myself: "It's wei that keeping
unstable articles isn't a crime in this
country, for if il was I should expect
to be arrested So gave him back
his look, turned on my heel and
walked back into the shop. did not
see him again that night; but, long
after everything had been taken in
and locked up, and was snug in bed,
heard a tramp-tTamp-tTamp upon
the pavement, and knew it was the
new policeman, and that he was look
ing at the hooks where the hams had
hung, as well as though l had seen
him.
On the third evening he was there
again; that, you may say, was no
wonder, for it was his duty to be upon
that beat, and no other, but it was GU
rious, that he should keep on staring
at those hams with those bright, VOL
fish eyes of his. I didn't like it,
though I could not have said why.
A vessel had been wrecked at sea
about that time, and an extra, with
the latest news of the disaster, came
out that evening. / bought a paper
and sat down behind the counter to
read it. It was a stormy night, and
but few customers came in, and those
were easily served, and somehow, be-
tween reading and thinking, time
passed ON, until the clock struck
eleven, and I had not yet taken in
my goods or put up my shutters.
Just as l was about to do so Tin fact,
I had already put my hand upon the
first piece of the shutter), my door
opened and an old woman came in.
She was a scottish, miserable creature,
known about the place as Irish Kate,
and with her red nose and bleared
eyes and blOated limbs, was as ugly a
figure as any one ever cast eyes on.
"AnOther dram, I suppose said to
myself, going behind the bar at once,
for / wanted to get rid Of her as soon
at possible. But she, to my surprise,
came close up to me and put her great
red paw upon my arm.
s'I've made q diskiVery, misther, -
she said. you've not been keeping
as bright q lookout as you should !;
there's been a thief at work widOut
this blessed night"
'sWhat thief?" I asked.
"MOre than can tell ye,n she an
swered. "But 1 think it's police
man, no less, the blackguard."
A policeman !" cried, and my
thoughts few at once to the man I
had seen staring at my hams.
''It's too dark to see his face" she
said 'tbut / caught the shine of a
star on the coat he has on, and who
liver it was took ham from your pegs
and hid it in the ashbOx beyant at the
corner. Yell find it there, if ye look;
and row yell not refuse an ould wO-
man a sup o. whisky for this infOrma-
ton ?"
gave the old creature what she
wanted, hurried her out Of the shop
and put up the shutters, growing more
angry every moment.
"If il is the pOIieeman. pfL make