The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-01-21

he was forever attending sales, ana II
he had leisure hour at home he was
either examining his pictures or talking
about them. On Sundays, regardless
of the fourth commandment. he donned
n baize apron and went around his gal
lew with buster, fearing to intrust the
cleaning of his treasures to any clumsy
handed servant. 1t is to be feared that
he grew very remiss in his attendance
at church from the time when he had
emitted the opinion that "a beautiful
masterpiece breaches you sermons as
good as any clergyman s.
1t is a well-known fact that every col
lector, of no matter what, has in his
minds eye some particular treasure that
he wants to add to his collection. Gen
orally the thing he covets is quite be-
yond his reach, either because of the
price asked for it, or because it is not
for sale; but the craving after the thing
is only intensified by the difficulty or
impossibility of obtaining it, just as is
the case with the moon which babies
cry for and dogs howl after. Now the
pictorial gem which Baron Stock coveJ-
ed with all his heart, and sighed for in
his dreamy moments, was little por-
trait of a girls head by CorreggiO. He
had seen it in the gallery of a banker.
The banker was not a very pleasant
person to know, being a somewhat vul-
gar parvenu. but the Judge cultivated
his acquaintance solely that he might
worship his picture. The girls head
appeared to him to be a speaking like
ness of his wife when she was young,
and the Judge would have given an
enormous sum to buy it. But the
banker was not willing to sell, having
no need of money, as he used to say
with boastful laugh, for which Mr..
Baron Stock could have punched his
head.
Bankers, however, are liable to ups
and downs in their pecuniary affairs,
and so it happened with the Baron's
friend, Mr.. Twistey. As promoter of a
Joint Stock Company which turned out
a failure, he became the defendant in
an action at law, on which his whole
fortune was going to depend This ac
ton was to be tried at the Manchester
Assizes, and Baron Stock was one of
the two Judges appointed to hold the
said Assizes. On the day when this
fact was published in the papers, Mr..
Twistey invited the Judge to dinner,
and the Baron, who knew nothing of
the action that was pending, came with
out suspicion.
The pair dined well and tete-a-tete.
Mr.. Twistey preached some bottles of
delicious Burgundy and claret, for
which, as he managed to hint, he had
paid twelve guineas the dozen; and
when the Judge had well drunk thereof
for he was no despiser of good things
his host waXed sentimental and told
him, with tears in his eyes, that he
wished to make him a present. He
walked to the wall and unlocked the
Correggio, upon which Baron Stock had
gazed ecstatically all through the din
ner. ~
My dear Stock" faltered he, "tbis
is the anpisersaTy of the day when we
became acquainted, two years ago, and
your friendship has been very precious
to me. want you to accept this pict-
ure, which you fancy, as a memento of
! it''
"My dear Twistey," murmured the
Judge, taken aback and coloring from
excitement, ell can't take such a
present as this. I'll buy it, if you like. ="
"You would accept it if bequeathed
it to you by will, would you not? SO
you may as well take it while / am
alive" rejoined the banker, plausibly.
." If, however, you wish to be quits with
me, 1 Il tell you how you can render me
a small service. An action is going to
be tried at Manchester
"Ah, l seev' exclaimed the Judge,
rising, and quite sobered at once.
Since you have known me two years,
Twistey, you ought to be aware that |
never mix up business with my pleas
ure."
"Well, but hear me to the end" in
sisted the banker. "You are running
away with wrong impression
"No, no; | have heard enough, r"
calculated the Judge. Good-nightr'
And he walked out of the house
straightway.
Mr.. Baron Stock went to the Manches-
ter Circuit, and, as i'll luck would have it,
an indispOsition of his brother Judge
obliged him to preside in the Civil Court
on the day when the action of Wriggle
VS.. Twistey came on for trial. AS the
suit was being placed before him it sud
denly occurred to the Judge that if the
banker were ruined, his gallery, and the
Correggio with it, would go'to the ham
mer, so that he might be able to buy the
picture after all. This thought filed
him with agitation. He dreaded that
he might not be impartial enough, and
in summing up he found so many points
for the defendant that old solicitors
shook their heads in amazement, mar
Yelling to hear casuistry proceed from
Baron Stocks lips instead of sound law.
However, the jury were not to de shak-
en-, and, deciding the case on its merits,