The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-09-07
SATURDAY NIGHT,
Or the Ubiquitous Reporter at the
Corner-Grocery Listening 60
the Gossip OF the Nay.


every morning nave many ways OF collect
ing their facts and fancles and OF obtaining
information on all the current topics OF the
time; but there is one channel which hard
ly seems 10 have been properly worked, so
msny items OF local interest ore there con-
stantIy floating i'm the current OF its affairs.
The aIIusion is 10 that aggregation Of ed-
bles, materials, odors, and individuals, de-
nominated the corner grocery. store" As
focus for scandal, gossip, and guZZlers 1t
Is unsurpassed, and In the two first.men-
toned particulars II superior even TO the
tea table or on old ladies' sewing society.
Happening by one OF these Institutions
Saturday evening, the reporter saw an old
darky comfortably seated on an open barrel
filled with unshelled peas. His skin was
toned down to a decent dinglness; his
beard was grizzled; his ewes bad in them
the humid mist OF age. His clothes-gray
sprinkled and splaShed with lime, showing
him TO be a member OF the ancient and
honorable society OF whitewashers-a So
ciety, strange TO say, principally composed
OF black men. II is odd that their trade is
to brighten and cleanse everything but
themselves.
f1lb appearance lnNittu II chlulhiloUs
"Good evening, old gentleman. You
appear 10 be pretty comfortable this warm
afternoon. Haven't been caught In snow
storm, have your" This in ailusion TO his
me-besprinkled costume.
"No, boss; ies' done flushed job O.
whitewashin' fer ole Mist Williams, dat's
all. Wish 'twould snow, do. Haint seed
sech dry spell fer fifty Vars, dat l AMT"
los oil
anyhow. old man ?"
Else ninety-seben Vars old"
"What! ninety seyenY Why, you don't
were you born :"
"Well. boss, dunno bout de var. |
can't read, you know, but ] knows lse nine
ty.seben-I knows dat WELL"
"YOu must have known George Wash
ington, then. Did you ever see him?"
"What. him whar was hung?"
"Well-yes, the one that was hung"
This atrocious falsehood was prompted by
the reflection that vast number OF people
thought he ought to be hung, II he wasn't.
40 yes, boss. | seed him oPD. Was a
policeman, warn't hei"
"Not exactly. He was a magistrate-tbe
chief magistrate"
"Well, dar aln't much din'rense betwixt
a policeman and magistrate, is dar ?"
80, yes; a policeman arrests peOple-a
magistrate tries them"
els dat so Well, Pse glad to hear you
say so, sab. De oder night | got to f0olin'
roun' leetIe too long in Mr.. PepperstslPs
back paror wild de saw-dusted flo 10 dar,
an | suckumscrlbed q leetle too much
sperit, an wandered off somewhar down
de street, an de mex ting / knowed | was
in de station.house, way long yonder bout
2 o'clock IN de mornin'. Oar was only one
oder policeman in dar sides dc one whar
tuck me up and brought me In, an he was
fas' asleep In a cheer. Oar was gentleman
in his shirt-sleeves, who j tuck for the
magistrate. settin' inside a railing at a
desk, but | subsecontally fOun' on, dat he
was only policeman too-ies' leste
higher up, dat was all. Dey 'cUsed me ob
bein' drunk an' sassin' am abusin' De police
man. Well, boss, ef done it, didn't know
It, au' didn't meanter do il, case | don't
b'lieye in saSsin' anybody what can't sass
back. De gentlemen in de shirt-sleeyes
axed me a lot o. questions, and glib ne a
mighty smart lecture. and den he told me
TO git up an git, and nebber ter come back
dar no mo- or he'd lock me up. got. Dat
is, started to 20. But ies' eZ got q leete
way of | saw anoder policeman tskin' in
a Young man by de arm. De young man
was a tryin' mighty hard ter spliin away de
matter, but de policeman, spose, not bein'
quite es smart as de man in de sbirt.sleeyes,
couldn't let him of, es he did me. | was
allus mighty Gurus, so | followed long
after, an crep' up de stars and hid behind
de do, ter listen. De young man was
'cused wild usIn' bad langwidgo in de
streets at 9 O'Clock in de mornin', when
eberybody is out takin' de ar. De
Young man seemed ter be sorry, and
be axed de poiceman's pardon sod
said when be holered at him he
thought he was his friend, Tom Jones, aud
dat he didn't mean no fence a tall. But
'twant no 90, and de man in de shlrt-sleeVes
toe him he had ter git bail or stay dar tell
be did. De yOung man sent fer friend
whar be owed money to and de man In de
shirt.sleeyes sent arfter de magistrate. De
magistrate, a big, fat man, soon come IN, a
yawpin' and puftin' and blowin', and only
half awake, said twas a hot night, wrote a
leettle on a piece Of paper, said a short
pra'r, collected fifty cents from de young
man, and went back home. So you see,
boss, dey didn't II eat de young man Ell good
ez dey did me. Did dey!"
"NO. ! think not. | guess they thought
you didn't have fifty cents, and Warn't
worth foOin' with"
"Yas, | spects dat was il. An dey
thought mighty right, too, ef dey did,"
Inside the grocery knot Of customers
were attentiyely listening to the details OF
the mysterious disappearance OF a twenty
dollar bill from the little hoard OF one OF
the number. He had kept il, wrapped IN
an old stocking, in the clock.
81 know what / had," said the sufferer.
81 counted il almost every day, and when
took it out Of the clock yesterday 1t was
twenty dollars short. There's nobody in
the house but grandmother ana me, and l
can't account for its going"
"Was the clock runningi" irreleyantly
asked one Of the group.
Yes, IL was"
"Then perhaps it went of with the
money
"Ab, to be sure" said the robbed one
" | hadn't thought Of that"
HSeems to me-" said another, II any
one attempted to rob clock 1t would
strike"
al would move its haRds," said one.
"Or give the ALARM" added a second.
ats face would certainly show that
something was going on inside" ehlmed 10
a third.
Weight a minute" said f0uIth;
"since 'time is money! perhaps the clock
consumed some OF it."
"And tcked of the balance
"Wheel run the thing down II We don't
stop"
"Theu let's wind up and 20 of"
As they went of together, said one
"Thst was rather hard case, wasn't
ni"
"Whatf"
"That clock. case"
The WEATHER. The weather here yes
a. t1xr Z z