Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-09-11
THE THREE ELLIS
avn Brokers and what Tn
.,rwA Talk Nth One Of Them


entity Talk with One Of Thenas
1 strolling down Market street day OF
/ two ago a REGIsTKR man encountered the
genial Marc Weller summing himself, il
front OF his Market street establishment.
After conyersing for some time upon othei
subjects, we suddenly asked:
/ What do the three, balls hung out II
i front of pawn brokers shop mean?" wa!
asked of the gentleman Of Hebrew per
suasion. ~ -
Rubbing his hands and smiling: "Why
| it is" he said, "a sign OF business. Doesn' I
an undertaken hang out coffin, a grocer ex
pose his ware and a druggist have mortal
ayes, but what do they mean? What's
the significance Of the legendP'
That's question that may be called an
| open one. There are several stories. One
| is that the three balls represent faith, hope
| and charity--the faith and hope the Gus.
| omer has OF securing loan, while the ball
/ signifies the charity to those
"who leave pledges behind"
There is another story which some &C.
| cept. and II is q very pretty one. Sc Mich.
| olas, you know, is the patron saint OF the
| pawn brokers, and is celebrated for his
| charity. In the city of Ponthera there lived
an old pobleman with three daughters.
| lie Ddu DCCu but DOSohAS
poor and reduced TO such straits that he
was on the point of selling his children for
| an infamous purpose. Bowed down with
| sorrow at the thought, he was unable to
| tell of the necessity he was driven to, and
sat dumb and weeping. The maidens see
ing their father weep, joined him,
which also added to his desperation.
At last the news of the poor nobleman' s
distress reached the ears of st. Nicholas.
| - % bic hnnga ha the
nobleman and his daughters fallen asleep
at his side. Through the window he threw
| into them some gold. With this the father
portioned off his oldest daughter This
worthy act Of charity was repeated by the
| good saint and on the third time, the
nobleman ran after him and plucking his
| gown, cried out: ooh st. Nicholas! ser
want Of God, why seek to hide thyself?'
| Falling at his feet he blest the good saint,
and ever after the story is repeated and the
three balls adopted as the emblem OF the
is another account accepted by the Floren-
tine Jews, which is that the three pendent
| golden ,;palls serve as a feature
in TIE armorial bearings of the first Max
! Silyestro De Medici, who had sense enough
| to know that money hadsa value. The
Medici family used pills, gilded for those
who dealt with mine onkle" in allusion
to the professional origin wherefrom the
| Medici derive their name, and their Eng
lish agents put the armorial bearing over
| their doors.
French Jews will give you another orr.
| gin. He will say that when Louis the Good
was forced by his mobiles to take extreme
measures against bis Israelite sub
iects, he made one reservation, and it
| was this: He guaranteed to whoever should
paw into the general State three balls oil
pure gold, of the weight of two pounds,
immunity from Punishment and death:
| Thus the three balls became an emblem OF
| deliverance from death and Punishment
| There is another and far prettier story
which the Ludlow Jews tell, though 1t is
| purely legendary. A noble knight in the
| train of Richard the Lion-Hearted fell in
| love with pretty Jewess. He was pledged
| to the crusade, and neither her arguments
nor persuasions would induce him to give
up the object Of his ambition, but he swOre
never to harm her people, even If he were
| to incur the enmity of the ruthless
Richard. As pledge Of his engagement
| he gave his lady love chain from which
| hung three balls. Time passed, and after
many perils in the Holy Land with eleven
other knights, he returned to England in
search OF bis lady.
Richard had escaped from his captivity
and was again OH the throne OF England.
He welcomed back his Knights and ordered
each man to come to him as soon as he had
knelt at the feet of his lady love. But
each Knight had found his betrothed false
to her vows, except our particular Knight,
who could not find his lady at all. Richard
was so angry at the faithlessness of the pet
ticoat kind who had proved false to the
eleven knights, that he promised to allay
the prosecutions of the Jews should our
Knight find his lady and she prove true.
Disguised as Rabbi he set out i'll search OF
her, and at length, by the aid of the chain
and three balls, she was found faithful.
But the King went back on his word, and
prosecuted the Jews as ferociously as ever
care many OF the goods pawned re-
deemed?"
"Oh, yes. A large proportion. Many
people need a small loan to give them
temporary relief. They do not want to go to
friends, and prefer to keep their embarrass-
ment from their acquaintance, and are
willing to pay good rate of interest. Other
young men grow tired of certain articles of
jewelry, and take them to pawnshop as
the easiest way to get rid of them, never
intending to redeem them"
is there much competition i'll your bust.
ness?"
"Oh, no. Very little. We can make
money without any throat cutting bust
ness
"There is one strange thing about our bust
ness, and that is hard times never affect us.
When times are hard people rush to us
with goods, so that we gather large stock
on hand. When times are good we sell at
high prices and realize largely upon our in
vestments. We deal mostly in gold and
silver, although there are places where cut
lery, weapons, clocks, cloths, and all sorts
of portable stuff can be negotiated,
The strange medley of articles you see in
pawn shop tell many story OF want and
faded gentility as well as roguery and crime:
A string OF holy beads hang over pair OF
boxing gloves, and fencing foil aud
copy OF the holy Bible stand side by side
with the "Newgate Calendar and Lives
of Highwsymen." A plain gold ringinscrib-
ed Louise" lays in close proximity to an
old violin inscribed "Cremona." The his
tories, the stories of pride and bad luck, the
evidences Of burglary and sneak thievery,
even Of murder, which a pawnshop con-
tains, are numbered by volumes.
Unxr Data - iav IN ChiaaOn