The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-03-27
THE sroRY oF JONES & CO.
From the Argonaut.l

IS
.------- '.
from the Argonautl
I guess pa and ma was pretty .lsn o :.
time. for when they came 10 Sainoi W., ,n., -
yvos ON their wedding tour, ana cost lOs,
. Mas 90 come bv the way OF New York and
Wnsh;ncton and Panama city, ID steah-
hoat. and ma brought a maid to wait on
her and pa had black fellow named jim;
and when we got to California; say we,
pm only fourteen now, but was not porn
then. though that don't matter, guesS-pa
bod lots OF money. was born at the LICK
Uo,,se. and YOU ought to see my baoy
clothes. Jones & Co. haven't the KIM OF
goods that them was, because Maud has drag
oiled them all to pieces. Maud is the papy.
Six years old Maud is, and it won't De long
before she will be a clerk In Jones O. 20.
First babies always have the incest Things.
Mn saws first babies are like second wives.
But keep getting away from JONES q
Well, am of the opinion that alter pa pa
bought his house on Van Mass avenue, nc
went into stock, whatever thac means'
! Going into stock must be curious pus'-
ness. aud sometimes pa came nome ioohIls
SPLENDID, and wanted 10 buy eveI!tplus;,
ond laughed at ma for being so mean, ana
NOT Getting b, tier clothes, and then he
wanted to drive in the park and to the
theatre. One day he came home win
hrsn-new carriage and span OF long,
tailed horses, and a negro coachman r., anu
fTnnv little darkv for footman. Inen
sometimes IA came home and looked very
hInn and talked about stocks, and Deean
~ watch pa, and noticed that sometimes
when he laughed loudest be looked as il lie
,rantad to cry. and then he sold the horses,
and then the house, and the furniture was
conf To auction, and ma she felt very Dad,
ond ma wasn't like himself any more, ana
never told me stories nor kissed me, ana
once when Maud was asleep in his arms he
kissed her and cried, and when toid ma
She said she guessed pa did not feel very
well, and then she cried.
After this we went to a boarding-house-
nasty, musty clearinghouse. Everything
was we'll enough, only clearinghouse
amt like home.
Then the baby came, and it died, and ma
almost died; and I heard pa say to the man
that kent the clearinghouse that he was
nretty tight up, but it was all coming OUT
right: and the next day pa didn't have any
watch nor any seeye-buttons. L dldn't
seem to notice it because ] seen that maybe
ma had sold them to pay his board; and
heard pa aud MA talk away in the night: ana
sometimes. ma cried. and pa would LOOK III
the morning just as If he hadn't slept q WINK
and don't believe he had. once 1t was
dreadful. Pa came home tipsv, and never
seen ma feel so bad, ever; ana then the!
talked it over, and finally ma went nome 10
erandpapa's. in New York, with MAUD, ana
I STAYED with "a TO go to school.
Then ia kept getting worse and worse,
1.-Two in AMI eat al
restaurants; and pa stayed out late nights,
and T ouess he drank more than was sooC
for him. and thought something had TO De
done. So 1 said to pa one day, g Pa, less &C
| into business and open store
And he laughed and said, ""hat KIND OF
a store?"
And 7 said. ooh, candy-store, or a sta
t;oncry. store, or thread and needle-storf
lust such us women keep and little glrl:
help in"
nf il. and when be came home that night
asked him II he had thought about it, ano
he said he hadn't, and / said he had better,
and he said lie would; and that morning ne
didn't 90 out, but stayed at home and
wrote me long letter.
So next day Iwert into store on Polk
street kept by a nice lady who bad bad
Husband, where they sold everything, and
she said in French they called it lingerie.
I did not know what she meant, because
it was French, and I asked il she didn't
want to sell her store, and she sald
"Do you want to buy store, htl!'
girl?" 49,, -,
smiled and said she guessed the shcrii
would have a store to sell in few Gays, aIe
I said would tell Pm, because he kne" Nj
Nunan, the sheriff. 1t was one OF ar. M
mans men that sold pas house ana lurhi
ture for him. /,
And the next day I told pa about tn
store and what q nice one it was, and b.
said he had been dry-g0Ods man once, ha'
lad a large store. and sold silk dress goods
and vclypts and furs, and iaces, worth eve
so muuh yard, and India shawls wort
more than thousand dollars apiece.
I don't know exactly what pa did; but
think something "turned up" few day
afterwards, for I heard him say he hat
made a "raise." and he showed me NOR
than thousand dollars in gold notes, ant
for day or two be carried them in side
rocket and mostly kept his hand owe
) them, for fear they would Jump out and H.
5 away; and pa bought me some shoes and
/ hat, and stuff for aprons, and made then
myself, and never sew pa look so happ.
since ma went away, and one day he said t.
me:
"Vevie, have bought the store on Poll
street, and you are TO be my saleswoman AM
partner"
And sure enough, in few days We wen
into the store, and over the door was Srea
big sign Of "Jones Il Co.." and pa said
was the "Co." And when said, and so
pa, you are ssJones," he blusbed, and
guess lie didn't like his old friends to know
that be was selling needles, and thread, ant
tape and things.
We had two snug little rooms in the back
of the store to sleep in, and made pas bee
aud overt vot thy rvvus and tidioh things
! At first pa shut mp the store whom he had tn
90 down town on business, but after little
while tended it, and when there was two
customers in the store waited on one, and
it wasn't long before l could make change
and sell things and add up almost rs good
az pa could; and by-and-by when he went
down town l tended store, and we had
splendid times. We went out TO nice
place across the street for our meals.
| tended store when pa went, and pa tended
store when l went.
One day pa came in and looked dreadfully
| troubled, and then / said: "Pa, amt l a
partner, and don't partners have right to
know everything, and amt you hiding
something about Jones d Co. ?" And then
I found out that pa had bought too many
tbiprs FOR tho stnre and that a note for n