The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-03-18

| cross and set of studs in diamonds-the old
mans Christmas gift to his niece and nephew,
| and curiously woven bag of Indian manu-
facture, made of some fibrous grass, in which
were diamonds, unset and even unpublished,
| belonging to Uncle Timothy himself.
| The good old man warned me too, repeat
| edly, of the dangers that l might encounter
on the way to the newspaper Office; aud, in
deed, proved by experience the wisdom of
his words. One morning | remember, how
alarmed afre9h by the account of an especial
| ly bold robbery,he advised ne TO take care OF
my watch and pocketbook, speaking hurriedly
| and TREMENDOUSLY, following me to the outer
| door in his solicitude. At the moment
| thought but little of the words of the old man.
| I was even impatient of his gentle, OBTAINING
| hand upon my arm-I, who ought to have
| respected the timidity of the kindly old uncle
| whose fear had rendered him prophetic.
When reached the office of my journal-my
watch was gonel 1t was hopelessly lost, it
might have been stolen anywhere between
45th street and Printing house Square-for 1
ad no recollection of consulting it, upon the
way. The black cord which held it had been
cut with some sharp instrument; and the
watch, valuable one which had belonged to
my father-was lost.
l related my misfortune TO the family, at
dinner; and though fanced that I detected
upon the face of Uncle timothy little graft
| fed vanity at this proof of the reasonable
ness of his fears. he kindly forbore to remind
me of his caution of the morning; and, in
deed, was so overcome by his terror at the
idea of the robbery that he could scarcely
finish his meal.
"Tippoo," he said to his servant, who as
usual, stood behind his chair, "did you have
the lock of my door repaired?"
"Ye', Sahib," answered Tippoo-and this
phrase, constantly repeated by the soft, low
voice Of the Hindoo, in reply to the various
commands of his master, was, with single
exception, the only one that ever heard
him utter while he lived under my brother
n-law's roof.
That evening John received visit from
gentleman, wishing to transact a little bust
ness with him. They had already met at
the house Of mutual acquaintance, but my
brother-in-law had not been especially pleased
with the other, although he had never heard
him otherwise than well spoken of. The
visitor said that he had been suddenly sum-
moned by telegraph to Chicago, and must
cave in the train in fifteen minutes. The
banks were of course closed for the night,
aud he dared not leave bis little box of valu-
abes at the rooms where he lodged. Might
he confide them for the night to the care of
Mr.. Percy, who he knew had facilities for
keeping them? His clerk should call for the
box in the morning, with an order signed by
himself. My brother-in-law consented. All
this was transacted in the hall. for the strang-
er did not wish the delay of entering the
library where the family was assembled. He
accompanied Mr.. Percy to the dining room
closet, in the basement, where the safe stood;
saw the box placed inside, and the safe
locked. He then departed, hastily expressing
his thanks.
In the meantime, we, in the library, hardly
heard or regarded the business-like voices in
the hall, so intent were we in listening to
the wonderful story of an elephant hunt
which Uncle Timothy was relating, with
Nora perched on one arm of his chair, Ned
on the other, and the baby on his knee.
When John returned to the library, he at
once told us of his visitor and the box con-
fided to his care. Uncle Timothy was dis.
posed to blame his nephew little for so
readily allowing man, but slightly known 10
him, to become acquainted with the position
of the safe.
"You say, john" said he, ''that your
knowledge of this man is merely by reputa-
tion-that you have met him but once. He
may be, very likely is, one of the best of men,
but you should not allow sudden impulse,
liking for his cordial manners, to lead you
so generously to confide 10 him the situation
ofyour safe."
81 admit, uncle, that it was somewhat i'm
prudent" returned John, ''-but wished to
make tacit amend to him for a certain
groundess dislike that experienced for him
upon our first meeting, and which feared
might have rendered my manner little
brusque toward him."
cab, you disliked himv' cried the child
like old man, "trust to these impressions,
they are rarely at fault. Second thoughts
are not always best! You may have COM
promised the safety of your family and your
property. Who knows-this man may be
connected with the terrible band of thieves
that are preying on the community"
The simple old gentleman seemed to have the
idea that it is possible for man to be entire
ly honest, estimable, and yet not precisely to
ones taste. I thought with some amuse-
ment and much contrition of the unreasoning
and trivial prejudice that had been able to
influence ME with regard to himself; and
hoped that John and Laura had forgotten, as
they had pardoned my foolish words.
Although Johns sturdy and unsusplcious
nature of the Englishman could hardly be led
to credit the possibility of danger that might
ensue from the visit he had received-he- ac-
cepted. for the sake of re-assuring Uncle
Timothy, my offer to go to the station and
describing the gentleman, whom knew well
by sight as he was occasionally at the Office
of my newspaper, inquire if he had taken
ticket for Chicago. l arrived at the station
three-quarters OF an hour after the train had
left, and Intercepted the ticket-agent. He
replied that he had not noticed such gentle
man; might have sold him ticket, but
thought not; in the crowd and hustle it might
we'll be that he had sold the ticket without
ooking at the buyer; the gentleman might
have had mileage ticket, or perhaps fire e
pass. Clearly, nothing was to be learned in
this way. I returned 10 the house, told
my unsatisfactory story, and found that
all disagreeable impressions of what had
occurred earlier in the evening were being dis
PEELED by the pleasant chat of Uncle Timothy,
who seemed unselfshly determined 10 con-
quer his own fears, and atone for the uneas-
mess his prudence might have caused. This
time it was story about the faithful Tippoo,
who had more than once saved his masters
life in India; and the narrative proved so ex-
citing that the old gentleman forgot to leave
US for the night until after ten O'Clock an