The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-08-28
A MODERN DELILAH.

r A MODERN DELILAH. :
John Riddel- was q young man in
whom confidence was Justly placed by
Messrs. Moonstone & Co., jewellers, his
employers, in whose establishment, at
the time we became acquainted with
him, he occupied the post of foreman.
He was not q " self-made man. as yet.
but he was on the road to it. For, as
We all know, Providence has still the
advantage of priority in this particular;
it makes its man (such as he is) at q
comparatively early date, whereas,
when . man makes himself, he seldom
accomplishes it before he is five-and-
forty at the very least-when, indeed,
the other cannot be compared with him.
John never drank, except q glass of
beer with his early dinner; he never
smoked, nor of course took snuff; he
never handled anything in the shape of
billiard cue, unless it was his neatly
and tightly rolled-up umbrella; he
never-l was going to add he had no
weakness as regards the ladies, but this
1 hardly dare to write, because of the
extreme attention he paid to his very
fine head of hair. Why should any
man, not being Narcissus, take such
great pains with his hair, unless to
make an impression on the ladiesa
Yet even here must hasten to do
John Riddle justice; it would have
shocked him to have supposed that he
had any general views in this direction.
Still, he cultivated that fine head of
hair, narrowed it with tortoise-shel
comb, drove . furrow straight across it
from his brow to the nape Of his neck,
and top-dressed it with macassar oil and
other unguents. It shone in the sun as
brightly as any of Messrs. Moonstone
& Co.'S costly wares. over which he
presided. ttt-f s.--
There were other assistants in the
shop, and with them / am sorry to say
Mr.. John Riddel was not popular
young men rarely appreciate in their
associate 30 much virtue as resided in
our hero, and especially II that virtue
has not been its own reward, but has
- h1oazftDI Ipoo0os00RsO-W WNAlE.o~se& 49,
heads and stop there. There was hard
" one among them but at some time
during his servitude with Messrs.
Moonstone had mislaid . ring or
trinket for . few hours, or had even
caused some, loss to the firm, not SO
mnch through carelessness as from not
being quite q wide awake as q weasel.
For the way of . jewellers assistant
il set with spfings- 1t is calculated
that about one Per cent. of the custom
ers at such establishments are rogues
and vagabonds, people who come 70
spy out. not the nakedness of the land,
but its riches, and if possible to possess
themselves Of them BY force or fraud.
And these look as little like rogues as
nature (and art) can enable them to do.
Notwithstanding al that has been
written upon the deceitfulness of riches,
il ID dincult to believe that gentle
man who drives his own mail phaeton,
or lady who comes in . chariot upon
G springs, are brigands in disguise.
Yet the young men at Messrs. Moon
stones had been, most of them, taken
In by appearances, and at least once in
the lives of each their employers had
paid for the experience. One of them
had taken jewelry to . newly-married
couple at q fashionable hotel I" on ap-
provsl," and had been so successful in
his Recommendation that they had
"colared'' the whole lot, and given
him such q dose of chloroform in ex-
change for them that he was unable to
give any clear account of his adven-
tures for hours afterward. Another
had been set upon by . whole gang of
thieves, in such q promiscuous and
overwhelming fashion that he could re-
call nothing Of what happened except
that he had been " struck with an in
strument Ike the ace Of spades" which
the newspapers expressed the hope
would afford some clue to the police;
they thought it showed, / suppose, that
the perpetrators Of the outrage must be
either gardeners or gamblers; but moth
ing came of the suggestion. Others,
again, had been exposed to the seduc-
tions Of the fair sex, and in losing their
hearts had sacrificed the diamonds of
their employers.
In this last regard Mr.. John Riddel,
being adamantine, was invaluable. His
youthful as well as handsome looks at
tracted these ladies of industry, who,
on entering the shop, gravitated toward
him quite naturally. A man of that
age, as they fattered themselves, and
one SO particular about his hair, must
surely fall an easy victim to their fas-
cinations. Thieves as they were, they
were still women, and perhaps they al
lowed their feelings to carry them too
far; If they had stopped half way, where
Mr.. Boltby the Cashier sat, or at the
desk over winch mr. m6ltOn (tne nero
of the ace of spades) presided, they
would have had . better chance; but
Boltby was bald and Nation was gray,
and women never will understand that
it is from forty to fifty that men are
most impressionable with respect to fe-
male charms. Your conceited young
fellows think it nothing surprising that
any lady should fall in love with them,
but when . man comes to that more
mature period which we call (or at
least calD the prime of life, he appre-
clates the compliment ~
1 do notsay that Mr.. John Riddel had
not some admirers among the fair sex
who loved him for his own sake. In
deed, 1t was whispered among his de-
tractors that, like the first Duke of
Marlborough. and other great men who
ought to have known better, he derived
pecuniary advantage from their devo-
ton to him; the sums expended in ma
cassar-oil, ETC., for the adornment of
his appearance, came back to him
twenty fold in substantial tokens from
Duchesses and Countesses, and the like.
Goodness knows whether there was any
truthin such stories. Perhaps it pleased
his rivals to invest the drudgery that
was their daily lot with thislhalo of ro-
nance. For my part myl. tastes are