Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-04-11
A Famous Eye.Water.

An itinerant vender of small waros
told of the following piece of sharp
practice: 81 am going to pay for
my supper and lodging" said my COM
panion, Yankee peddler with these
two pebbles He put them in his
pocket, and I thought no more about
them till, after we had eaten our sup
per, we were seated in front of COM
Portable fire the Yankee, the landlady
and /. He was spectacle-peddler, and
carried his wares in little green box.
He had charming habit of saying to
people whenever he got chance, Your
eyes are in pretty bad way. They
won't last you long, He said this to
the landlady, and she replied that she
was afraid that was true, for they had
been troubling her a good deal lately.
"Then the spectacle man brought out
the larger OF his two pebbles. Look
at that, madam said he. What do
you think of tnat?'
"The landlady said she thought it
looked like any other white pebbles
that could be picked up anywhere. The
spectacle man, laughing at the poor
woman's ignorance, said if she could
pick up few stones like that she'd
soon make her fortune. 1t was Z genu-
inc eye-pebble imported from Germany.
I make an eye-water from those peb-
bles,' said he, that Strengthens the eye
and restores the failing sight. That
stone will dissolve to nothing in ten
minutes in salt and water The old
lady was incredulous, and for some time
nothing more was said about it. Pres
entity she asked: is that eye-water of
yours very expensive?' no. he said,
not very expensive 'Then,' said she,
Il guess I'll have to get you to make
me bottle of it,
"The peddler told her to bring in a
tumblerful of lukewarm water, with a
tablespoonful of salt in it, and a tea
spoon. The articles were soon brought;
the peddler dropped the larger pebble
into the glass, and stirred it deliberately
for fully five minutes, the pebble, of
course, showing no sign of dissolving.
"'I thought said the old lady, that
that there little stone wouldn't dis
solve
"'It does seem a little stubborn,
that's a fact said the spectacle man,
but the trouble is you haven't put in
quite enough salt. Just get me tea
spoonful more salt, and it will soon be
all right The old lady left the room
to get the salt, and the peddler quickly
whipped the large pebble out of the
tumbler, and dropped in the small one.
I DECLARE said she, when she returned
and saw the diminished size of the peb-
BILE, is takin' hold, after all, amt it p
Certainly said the spectacle man,
looking very wise ard pouring in the
remainder of the salt, Twill be ready now
in about five minutes, and you'd better
have bottle handy to put it in, for it
spoils it to stand in the air.
"The landlady had him this time,
for the bottle was standing on the man
tle-shef. It was necessary to get her
out of the room once more to remove
the little pebble, SO he asked: Haven't
you q colored glass bottle?' No. she
said, she hadn't one in the house.
Then said he, you had better paste
some dark paper around this one, for
the light weakens the eye-water, anayin
time spoils it. The old lady went out
in the kitchen to hunt some thick
paper, and out came the little pebble.
The eye-water was made.
Grub your eyes well with this three
times day, said he, as he corked the
bottle, and, by the next time come
around, you'll have new pair of eyes
in your head
"Next morning, as we were about to
pay our bills, the landlady inquired how
much she owed for the eye-water.
"'It will be 81 for the pebble just
what it costs to import them from Ger
many'-said he. T won't charge you
anything for making it.
GA dollar was just what he owed the
hotel. He and the landlady were
square,