Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-09-06
THE PAwNED WATCH.
Y. WHITMORE.
Publisher and Proprietor

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had been that afternoon to the
Globe to see "Claude Melnotte "
performed, and on my way home
ward | stopped in at Langford's,
on Sudbury street, to look at an
old violin. Langford was a pawn
broker, and | had known him
years before; and moreover, he was
a good sort of fellow, and loved to
talk Of the old times. / looked at
his violin, and after due examina-
tion, made up my mind that either
he must have misunderstood or
misrepresented the Herr Won
Schweitzenpelter who had left it
in pawn, or that said Won Schweitz-
enpelter had told him an untruth.
Considering that Langford was an
old acquaintance | preferred to
think that Schweitzenpelter had
been the deceiver, and having
put the violin back into its case,
and seen the case set away, / took
a seat by the stove, and entered
into conversation with the broker.
We had been thus engaged but a
short time when a lady entered.
She was dressed in black, and
closely yelled, and as she took her
place at the little counter Langford
went to wait upon her. / sat in
the shade, in a back corner, r,whence
| could look over the counter; and
when the lady raised her veil l saw
her face distinctly, as the light Of a
pendant gas jet fell full upon it
She evidently had not not seen me,
though she had certainly glanced
around the office with view to
ascertain if she were alone with the
pawnbroker. AS | have said, ]
saw her face, and | knew it for the
face Of o woman who had lived
very near to me for several years,
and who had served as nurse, al
different times, in various families
of the neighbOrhood. | had known
her as Mrs. Warland, and had be-
come interested in her because
knew very well that she had suf.
fered under some very heavy mis-
fortune. She was a mild-faced,
sweet-spoken woman, from forty tc
forty-five years Of age, and those
who had occasion to employ hel
spoke of her in the highest terms
She had hired a small tenement
or, rather, part of a tenement
down by the Back Cove, where
she lived in quiet seclusion, the
only other member of her family
being a daughter, of eight or nine
years. She had lost other children
and the one now living was fal
from being strong or well.
Ny sister had employed Mrs
Warland, and from her | learned
something of the woman's history
She had had two husbands. The
frst-the love of her maiden hear
was a pilot, and was lost over
board, while trying to board a shil
in a storm, during the fourth yea
of their marriage. After that
some years after-she married
again, this time taking for a hus
band Donald Warland. This War
land proved to be u hard, crue
man and one of the first result
of his cruelty was the running
away of little Jack, the pilots son
then ten years old. The mothe
had loved this boy with all tn
strength of her tender heart, an,
though his absence cast disma
shadow over her life, yet she coul
not but feel that it was better fo
him to be away. His step-fathe
had been very unkind to and harsl
in his treatment of him. The year
passed on. Children were born Q
the second marriage, but only on
Of them lived to run alone, Donal
Warland drank hard ~ he gay
misery to his wife while he LIVED
and he gave to her poverty whe
he died. A second time she wa
left a widow, and since Warland
death she had striyen to keep
home for herself and her child.
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