The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1870-04-21

IhS alVl'S- W lAHnho 'SUt ~ W. r. WCVn
trip ispositiyeIy ridiculous" -.
every likely you are the best Judge,
my DEAR" said Mrs. Houghton. She
always began in that way when she
meant to prove him otherwise ~
fully agree with you about that reckless
young Fry. But as to Harry's going
to the brown church, and his visits to
Tinborough, / think the same cause is
at the bottom of BOTH Grace Cham
berlaip has been singing in the choir
over there this spring, and now she is
visiting her aunt at TinborOugb. And
as to that, she is going with her aunts
family to Lake George to spend July,
and / suppose they have exercised a
wish to meet him there. Grace Cham
berlain is very pretty girl and Harry
is like what you were at his age"
sf"Bless my soul, Mary" said the
cashier, "then why didn't the boy tell
me what he was driving ati Chasing
across the country after pretty face is
foolish enough at his age, but it is not
so bad as going to a watering place
merely for the fashion of it, like some
rich old nabOb or professional dandy.
If Harry had told me he wanted to
dangle after Grace Chamberlain INSTEAD
of taking in that desperate way about
the watch, ! might have received it
differently There is charm on the
chain with my mothers hair, that
wouldn't have 60 out of the family for
fortune"
Just here the door-bell rang, as if a
powerful, nervous hand were at the
knob. Mr.. HOughton answered the
ring, for their one domestic had been
called away by message from sick
sister, and the mistress of the house
was "getting along alone for day.
So when her quick ear told her the
visitor was one to see her husband on
business, she quilted the room to set
away the milk and lock up the rear
doors of the house for the night,
The caller was Mr.. Silas Bixby. He
would have been sharp man in Elm.
field estimation who could predict the
object of one of Silas Bixby's calls,
though there were few doors in the
village at which his face was not fre-
quently seen. He was the constable,
but he was also the superintendent Of
the Sunday school, and the assessor of
internal revenue in the district, to say
nothing of his being the agent of two
or three sewing machine firms and one
life insurance company, aud the cor
respondent of the Tinborough s'Trum-
pet" He owned farm, and managed
it at odd house. He gave some of his
winter evenings to keeping a writing
school, with which he sometimes profit
ably combined singing school, with
lucrative concerts at the end of the
term. He was the clerk of the fire
company, and never had been absent
from a fire, though some of his mani
fold duties kept him riding through
the neighboring towns in his light gig
a great deal of the time He had raised
accompany and commanded it, in the
nine months army of '69. He kept a
little bookstore in one corner of the
village quadrangle, and managed very
small circulating library, with the aid
of the Oldest of his ten childreni and
he was equal partner in the new factory
enterprise at the Falls. So Mr.. Hough-
ton did not venture to guess on what
errand Mr. Bixby came to see him, and
showed him aehair in the twilighted
sitting-room, with face composed to
decline request to discount note, or
to join with interest in a conversation
on the Sunday school, or to listen to a
report on the new fire-engine fund, with
equal ease and alacrity. su.., raT
Mr.. Bixby looked about him to see
that nobody was in hearing. "You'll
excuse nae, know, Squire, if | shut
the windows, hot as it is''; and before
his host couldrise to anticipate him he
had suited the action to the word. sIt's
detective business. It's a big thing.
It's a mighty big thing. DoyOu know
| told you, Mr.. Houghton, the first Of
the week, that there was dangerous
characters about town, aud asked you
to keep your eyes open at the bank.
Will you bear witness OF thati'ag
II remember it very well Mr., ,Bixby,
and also that there has not been a sin =
gle person 10 the bank since that day,
other than our own townspeople and
friendsp aI .eEiLIJUG E-1"
THAT is just it, said Silas Bixby,
twisting his whiskers rehectivelyi "they
have got some accomplice who knows
the neighborhood, and whom we don't
suspect. Butwe shall catch him with
the rest The fact is, Mr. Houghion
the Blue River National. Bank is TO be
robbed tonight The plotis laid and l
have got every thread Off in my hand''
Foster Hou ghton was one Of a class
in the village who were habitually in
credulous as to SilaS Bixby's achieve
ments, as announced by himself; but
there was a positiveness and assurance
about the constable's manner which
carried conviction with it, and he did
not conceal the shock which the news
ga We him, .rau 5lo ey.ar. \.
"Just you keep very cool, sir, and
I'll tell you the whole story in very few
words, for | have got one or two things
to. do before I catch the burglars, and ]
have promised to look into Parson Pet