The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-10-05
STORY OF A HAMMER.

Yes, am, believe, quite a disinter-
ested person. and fairly well known, for
both my courage and mOdesty. L was
boarding in ret red neighhorhoOd in
New York, and next door to me lived,
in @ private house, an old lady, with
her granddaughter Need | say that
that young person was Unusuaiiy at
tractive? / regret to- state, however,
that any Advances on my part in that
direction We're met at first with much
Indifference. OF course, an acquaint-
Rnce with the old lady had to be made,
and very. queer old lady was she.
With great many eccentricit es, she
had one in particular which overshad-
owed the rest. Once her home had
been robbed, forty wears before, and
she had never forgotten it. Though
she was rs deaf as a post, she assured
me that the least no Sc q sturbed her
of nights. rs the dread of robbers was
always on her mind. Whether the
young lady shared her grandmother S
fears or not, / did not know. l rather
hoped she did
If, rs thought to myself, IcouId only
take advantage of this old woman fam
c es, that might give me an introduc-
ton to the house. The old lady was
garrulous, and / very soon scraped up
an acquaintance with her. j hadnot
been talking with her more than five
minutes, shouting my words into her
ears, before l. preached the subject of
robberies. From my pocket l drew =
newspaper aud read therefrom in loud
tones n lone account of a housebreak-
ing adventure. / must confess that in
order to add some pOnt to the story l
introduced some quite new facts into
the descr pt;on For instance, the
street in which the robbery took place
was in an entirely different part of the
town from ours, and for it l substituted
our own immed ate ne ghborhood. In
the orig nal version, however, it was an
old woman who had actually been at the
mercy of the bandits. I howled it all
out, and had the satislact on of seeing
that It had an instantaneous effect on the
old lady.
4" Deary me~ said the Oldlady. Ter
rible! and we are so entirely unprotect-
ed-two lone women"
"Awful!' l replied ''and when rob
bers once get in a ne ghborhood they
never let up until they clean out every
thing. l don't like to tell you. but / have
seen some strange and mysterious look
ing fellows -tramps apparently-loung-
ing around here lately"
- Bless us! and l am so deaf, and so
nervous. l am sure / shan't be able to
sleep for weeks. What can l do?''
II have an idea" said /. lin what
story of your house do you sleep?H
d" Second story" Then the old lady
described the position of her bed cham
ber-second story back. Her grand
daughter slept in the said room.
4 had known that before from q care
full reconnaissance / had made. My own
modest chamber in the clearinghouse
was on the same floor and our rooms
were contiguous, only separated by the
thin party wall
Now, my dear madam" said l, 81
am going to propose a plan of action
for YOU, quite simple of its kind, which
ought to relieve you of all anXietieS. L
might recommend n burglar-proof APP
paTatus, with telegraph attachments,
but those are very expensive things to
set up. can manage it all with a
hammer
"A hammer' exclaimed the old
lady, opening wide her mouth and eyes.
- Yes; a simple hammer"
- But / should be so terrified that If
"A robber were to break in, never could
use il. / couldn't knock him down
with it," The old lady was terribly
nustered
II didn't mean a hammer to be used