The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-04-06
THE OLD BUREAU.

THE OLD BUREAU.
AS we were passing down Exchange
street several years ago, we stopped in
! front of an auction room to examine the
various articles that were'exposed to be
sold under the hammer. We heard q
female voice inauiring, sis the old bu-
| reau to be sold to-daYW On looking up,
we perceived the question had been ad-
dressed to us by young lady, whose
sad but pleasant countenance struck us
at once. We replied that all the articles
spread out on the sidewalk would be
| disposed of to the highest bidder.
III should like this bureau If 1T goes low
enough" she said, pointing to an old
| fashioned article that was standing
among other furniture; "but 1 never
bought ANYTHING at auction in my life,
and l see no women here; / don't know
as it would be proper for me to bid"
SIT would be perfectly proper" we re;
marked, "but if you wish 1t, Will bid
of the bureau"
"If you will, sir, l shall be greatly
obliged to you."
A little alter dark we were sitting in
our sanctum, the young lady came In
with an apology for intruding, and re-
marked. "you bought the bureau-so the
auctioneer informed me-"
eyes, bought it at an extravagant
price, l assure you."
"What did you giveW
sTen dollars and a half"
"You astonish me. What can dor
had no idea that 1T would bring over
three or four dollars, and l am not pre-
pared to pay for it tonight"
81 supposed it was foolish in me to pay
SO much for it; but presumed you
wanted it very much"
81 did sir, and would not value pay
| ing double the amount for the bureau, If
were able, rather than not have It,"
$50 l apprehended.. Perhaps it may
have belonged to some friend Of yours T
eyes. sir; that bureau was once my
mother's'-and noticed tear come in
her eve. which she endeavored to con-
| ceal-"but she is dead now and wished
| to keep 1t in remembrance Of her."
Thinking the lady might be poor, we
told her that she might take the bureau
that night if she wished, and pay US for
it when she found it convenient.
81 am greatly obliged to you for your
kindness, but would rather you would
keep it until it is paid for"
1t was nearly six weeks before we saw
the Young lady again. She then called
upon us with the remainder of the money
| that we had paid for the bureau.
| We protested against receiving 1t at
L that time, thinking it might be inconve-
1 niept for her to pay it; but she insisted
that we should have 1t, saying: 81 am
under great obligations to you for your
kindness. Had 1t not been for you l
should not have the bureau-the only
relic of my mother; for 1t was then I'M
SO generously paid. shall never forge'
your kindness"
At this moment the man came Tor the
bureau, and bidding us good evening, the
young lady left the room.
"Going, going-will you give me but
two dollars for this excellent bureauT
exclaimed Mr.. Bailey, the auctioneerr, 8
year or two after, as we were passing
down Exchange street. "Here, Mr.. c."
turning to us, "Buy this bureau; 1t IL
CHEAP enough; it Is worth more fol
kindiing wood than what it is going for
just look at it-going, going-say quick
or you lose it,"
we saw it was the very same bureat
that we had bought several years before
and it was knocked of to US.
This is singular enough, thought we
as we had the article carried to oul
, room. Where is the young woman WIT
formerly OWucu lts w ~ Wuo oAOs
We made several inquiries, but coult
= not ascertain who she was or what be
, came of her. The bureau had been car.
ried to the auction room by an individ
nal whom Mr.. Bailey never saw before
and all our inquiries to ascertain Wha
, became of the young lady seemed
y fruitless.
Several months passed by, and still w
3 heard nothing of the young LADY, whel
/ one day not knowing but we might ge
a some clue to the former owner we tool
out all the drawers separately, and eX
b amined them. We saw no writing what
9 ever. In the back Of the upper drawer
1 we noticed that a small piece Of pine hat
been inserted. 1t looked as il it hat
been to stop a defect. Frying 1t with
0 knife it came out, when to our aStonlsn
y ment, we found several gold pieces t
q the value of about fifty dollars, besides
o note to the amount of twenty-five huI
dred dollars, with interest made pay abb
to Sarah -, when she should Decom
!. of age; 1t was witnessed note and ha
e been running about ten years, signed b
It a very wealthy man, whose reputatio
l. for honesty is not exceedingly good.
!, Without mentioning to single ina
8 vidual what we had discovered, we In
Q medlately renewed our efforts to ascel
o tain who Sarah - was, and where sh
! could be found. We learned that gil
N OF this name formerly lived with Cal
+ tain and did the work Of the kitci
:. en-. Of him we could obtain but little il
n formation. His wife recollected th
% girl and spoke of her in the highei
IS terms. She believed that she had maj
= ried Q mechanic and retired from th
a city, but his name she could not reco
n lect. BY repeated inquiries we asce
}, tanned that Sarah with her husban
II lived on small farm on the road ths
'e leads to Saco. Taking an early oppertl
e nifty, we started for the residence OF th
], young woman. After several Inquire
q upon the road, we were directed to th
y, house.
70 I'll was a pleasant situation, littl
from the road, while everything locke
n neat about the dwelling. As we dre'
q up to the cottage who should come to th
= door but the very woman we had SO Ion
% been anxious TO ind. She recognize
70 me at once.
Il ."Why, Mr.. c., how glad am
see you. Where in the world did yo