The Republican journal., 1875-02-25
A Burglars Overdose.

by the downtown merchants. About fou
years ago little adventure betell M
which l shall endeayor to relate rs nearl,
as possible as it happened.
had been through the war-tive years
service-went in a private and came out
major. 1t took a year or two to shake of
army habits and settle down to work A
last | went back to my old business, ano
entered the service of Merryfield & Bonni
FAINT. 1t was young house, but working
into fine trade, and the addition of my
tact and energy soon made considerable
increase in the business. | managed s
good many fine operations and secured
several advantageous connections, botl
here and abroad, so that at the end Of {
couple OF years l walked into the partner.
ship, and became the Co.
| had an incentive to hard work, the
greatest, perhaps, a man can have, anC
that was the desire to marry. | had long
been engaged to most charming woman
but | would not marry till was able to
comfortably maintain wife and family
So worked with vim, and found at the
end of a year, when we took account o1
stock, that my interest in the profits, with
the prospect of an increase every year
would warrant us in setting the wedding
day. We fixed on the latter part of May,
and as the interests Of the business de-
manded visit OF one of the partners to
Europe, we determined to spend the honey
moon abroad.
1t was the early part of January; the
cloudy winter day was closing, and night
shutting down with dreary drizzle, with
nf Iorp 1r
storm. Merrytield had left early in the
afternoon for his home in Workers, and at
six, B. fastened uptown, for he knew his
wife would be dreadfully anxious il he was
half an hour later than usual.
l, being bachelor, had nothing to de-
ter me from prowling for two or three
nights a week at the office and attending
10 various matters Of business to which
the occupations of the day did not give
me a chance to do ample justice. Our
office was on the first story, which was al
so used as Wareroom, as well as the three
stories above. The stairway led directly
from the first floor to the street, and had
no connection whatever with the room be-
low. This night had an unusual amount
Of writing to do. AS | was familiar with
French, German and Italian, all the foreign
correspondence devolved on me, and, rs
the morrow was steamer-day, I determined
to spend several hours at the office
The boys, porters and clerks all departed
at six o'clock and left me in sole posses
sion of the premises. l locked the door,
and, with the key in my pocket, went
round to Farrsh's in John street, and had
some nice mutton-chops with fried pota-
and hnttla Of RacS'c po1o 'fbD :
fortified, returned to my labor. fastened
the door carefully, and as | mounted the
step, Kitty, or Catharine, as | called her
for short, came down two or three steps to
meet me, purring hearty welcome. She
was one OF those gray cats we see every
where, and as she had been with us for 4
long time, | felt great affection for her
She had a singular habit of acting as usher
to every one who came, meeting him hall
way downstairs and conducting him into
the office with business air, having done
which, she would resume her position on
the railing and wait for the next conner
The unusual prominence of her super
ciliary ridge gave her very anxious look
She seemed to have the whole burden Of
the business on her mind, and at times,
when things did not appear to be going on
right, she would look earnestly down the
stairway, then skurry off to the upper
regions, which having investigated she
would hasten back to her station to wei
come customers In these anxious mo-
ments of hers, l felt myself called upon
to assure her that, though appearances in
dicated differently, everything was going
on well, and matters were being properly
attended to. l dwell on the attributes Of
this feline friend of mine. because she
plays part IN this little history, and still
cherish her with affection.
| went back to the desk, arranged the
drop light with the porcelain shade, and
stirred up the Morning glory stove till the
coal glowed brightly through the mica
lights. The ivory hands Of my Swartz.
walder clock indicated fhe hour of seven
The iron windows shutters were closed
Within all was snug and comfortable,
while without Was cold, miserable driz-
Zle.
The side streets downtown are exceed
irgly lonely after dark. They have almost
the solitude of forest The warehouses
are all closed. and the streets deserted, ex-
cept by the police, and often you may &c
them.
When came from supper, met Finni-
gan the policeman. at the door, trying the
fastening, to see that all was secure, as
was his custom every night. and | men.
toned to him that he need not be alarmed
at seeing a light shining through the
crevices of the shutters, as l intended tc
stay quite late that night. had my work
laid out, invoices, letters, etc. resting un.
der hideous Hindoo god OF bronze, about
five inches high. This god had been in
my family for generations, and was origin.
ally stolen from an Indian temple, at the
risk of his life. by an impious sea-captain.
think it was Vishnu 1t had an elephants
head, four arms, and sat cross-legged on a
low pedestal. One of its hands made the
mystic sign of the Yoni, dwelt upon with
such ingenuity by Inman in his recent
work on religious symbols.
| drew my chair up to the desk, and in.
dulged for few moments in delicious
thoughts of the coming May, and the hap
| wrote to our London correspondent re
garding our last shipment of Oil of Pep
permint and Wintergreen, and gave hin
instructions concerning a large consign
ment OF Beeswax going by tomorrow.
steamer. l exercised my best Italian in 6
letter to Marangolo & Son, at Messina, or
dering Oil OF Lemon and Bergamot, will
directions about packages, shipping. etc
Then turned my attention to French. an(
wrote to Paris, Lyons and Marseilles. OF
various businessmatters. dropped a lin,
to new house in Singapore, inquiring fo
their best quotations of Oil of Lemongrass
and then stopped to stroke Catharine, wht
sat at my elbow with her paws tucked
nicely away under her soft fur. With her
the business cares and worries of the da,
were over, and she felt that now she coul'
conscientiously abandon herself to cas-
and enjoyment, and so sat beside me
winking necessarily and puming with he
,,fro r,nn,