National Republican., 1875-07-31
SOME HARD CASES.
Small Notices Of Peculiar charactsrs-Thsy
Cnma To GriAf

Beats are Indigenous 70 the CLINE Of Washing
ton. A great number Of our most successful
BEATS It Is true, are not native born, but none Of
them reached their fuIl perfection until they
came here. There has been no acknowledged
leader among this class since Beau Hickman, the
prince Of beats, deadheaded his way to the
shining shore. Beat is q generic term. There IL
the shyster, the man who never pays his debts;
the oily confidence man, the harmless, Ino1ensve
fellow who resorts to all sorts Of devices 70 get
treat; the hoary headed rsmp-printer, who nego.
SesfmuF as iSenT he recall. % little bits u his sTsnu sven
life. The class Of beats that has become very
during sns s; two Sst 81 hs
generally man In the prime Of life. with
SCRUB BEARD
and bleared eyes. He comes along at night, and
the first Indication Of his arrival that the way
surround SUI him Ike fog, ana q husky voice issues
from the darkness, "say, mister, Will you do me
afsvorf" Some men stop at this appeal, and
out Of the whisky-fog, which winds up with the
solemn statement that the sufferers VIII prob
ably die before morning II he cant raise Ten en-
vest pocket, and If the victim does not produce
the ten cents after once listening to the beats
SQUARES before he Is rid of the smell Of whisky
and the request to do an unfortunate man
favor.
There are
BEATS IN HIeHKR CIRCLES
Of life, such as the man who borrows his neigh
boris hose to sprinkle his yard and don't return 1t
till the warm weather is over. There Is man In
this city who was short time ago, In the habit Of
losfng about drug store on the Avenue, and
reading the daily papers. He was model Of
86E ,bs s zs ssme around IN time
to take the paper from his hand, and sometimes
when the boy was late, he would walk down the
smile sweetly at the proprietor and receive the
paper from the boy. Then be would sit for hours
iSS slo1F over the misceIisneous items % Appearing
again with sentient nod in the editorial columns,
then marching line by line through the locals,
most inviting ads. Sometimes he paused to muse
while reading, and would stop for half an hour
with closed eyes, or with eyes wide open staring
up 10 heaven. After he had
READ THE LAST ITEM,
and pondered over the meaning Of the mysterious
characters placed at the bottom Of advertise
ments, he would leave the paper on the counter
1d ss 6a az S1 ybs 70
tor would be itching to see something In the
paper, and he would hang around the reader,
would have the paper sent 70 MS (the beat's)
house, or, II he got through that night, 70 please
leave the paper where he could get 1t next morn:
ing. The man did not mind this. He considered
Il as compliment, and would respond with,
"l'm great reader, Sir. always was, SIR"
did not belong to him, and II the boy By T mistake
brought It to him first, he carried It very meekly
to bis daily visitor, and waited 70 get few hHr-
rIed glances Rt II n the evening. Finally, he re-
solved TO rid himself Of this
SHADOW THAT WAS HAUNTING
him, and be formed an intrigue with the carrier
TO always bring II to him FIRST. He then sprinkled
It with preparation Of his own, which, though II
fascination about it for dies. The man came In,
and the proprietor brought him the paper, which
be received With eondeseending smile, and then
legs about IT, sticking his feet In under the rungs
and started In the description Of 0 murder with
Gquad OF flies came roiiIckiDg along and settled
on the paper. Reinforcemcnts came every minute
and the paper was black with them:
The man concluded that he was sitting too near
the soda fountain and moved 70 the other side,
but the flies followed him and began 70 make
@ ' ~ d s Ssnds ssSa and aOGa S oa
little
IMPATIENT MoNosYLLABLRs.
He moved to the rear Of the store, he took his
stool out TO the curb, he walked up and down the
buiTed around him, and be finally lsfs the paper
and said he guessed that he would have 10 60
home. The next day he waltEed around the store
left early, and the next day, when the proprietor
asked him II he did not want TO read the paper, he
said he believed not The proprietor had his
There Is another man in the city, prominent
citizen. He was in the habit OF going dewn town
and STypg big dinner st the the
produce dealers store near his residence, to keep
In his refrigerator over night.
HE NEVER BOUGHT
O slice Of steak there but Inevitably every Satur-
day the boy would come over with big market
basket pulling his arm out OF his shoulder and say
that the prominent citizen would be very much
obliged II the grocer would keep these things in
his refrigerator until he called for them on SUM-
day. 1t soon became tntolerable, and one Satur-
day night, after the prominent citizens dinner
had been slowed away in the refrigerator, the
storekeeper locked up the store and went into the
country to spend Sunday, taking the keys with
him.
The next day the prominent citizens colored
boy went over 70 the store and tried the door and
hollered for the stofekeeper, and looked into the
windows and then went back to the house. The
children came over and yelled around in the back
Hay, and the prominent citizen himself came
over and gave the door q few exasperated kicks,
but all to no purpose. The prominent ctiIen
and his family didn't sit out on the porch picking
their teeth that afternoon; but the citizen sat in
the middle Of the parlor, with rumpled hair and
no collar, and whenever any Of the children came
within reach he twisted his hands In their hair
and told them that they'd better behave them.
selves If they knew what was good for them; and
whenever the time -honored family cat brushed BY
his chair he didn't reach his hand down in his
usual manner for her to rub her head against, but
his slippered foot under her body, like su b.
aqueous ram, and gave her q hoist that would
send her across the room with her legs and tail
sprawling out like the points of q star.
The prominent citizen didn't take his dinner to