The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-10-03
JACOB AND POLLY.


Jacob Cattley was q messenger tC
Messrs. Parkinson, Goldchest Il Co
the rich bankers in Lombard street.
AT least he always considered himself
attached to the establishment as mes
senger, though he had never ''signed
articles with the principals. and was
just barely tolerated outside on the
pavement. at an acute angle OF the
building and three feet from the street
doors, where customers and clerks
were not likely to tumble over him. He
had been hanging outside this big bank
for many years now; and it had become
custom. OF late days, to send him on
little errands which were not within the
province of a regular clerks duty, and
which clerks of Parkinson. Goldchest IL
Co. would have scorDed TO perform at
any price whatever. II anybody re-
Quired acab, Jacob was sent for enc; ii
country gentleman with big bal
ance on the books wanted to be shown
the way to the Bank OF England, or
Billingsgate, or the Tower. Jacob was
told OF as guide; if something was
wanted surreptitiously by the clerks, in
the shape or newspaper or a ham
sandwich, Jacob was sent for it: and
there had been times when it was con-
sidered safe to trust him even with n
telegram.
Jacob received 70 salary. but was
supported by voluntary contributions,
like a hospitals; and what these contri-
buttons amounted to in the year there
had been much speculation concerning
at the bank, amongst the clerks. 1t
was set down by young and magma
tive minds as pretty penny, take it
altogether" But taking Jacob Gait
ley altogether was, to the ordinary
observer, TO set him down aS
a poor. half-starved. ill-clad. misera-
BILE old man. struggling hard to
live, and always on the brink
of failing at it. A shabbier old gentle
man was not to be found between the
bank and Houndsditch; but he was
never in rags, and he always boosted
clean face under his rusty-brown top
hat, which he poised at the extreme
back of his gray head. He did not ap-
pear to flourish on his contributions.
but grew thinner and more pinched
with every week of his outdoor service
there. .'You can see him shriveling
away" one Young man had seriously
asserted. Hes a regular miser. I'll
be bound" And with his hollow
cheeks, and peaked aose, and promi-
nent chin, ground fine to match that
poor pinched nose of his, he might
have been taken for miser. or pau
per, or, indeed, anything deplorable.
Still he had what the clerks called
his tips; and Mr.. Goldchest, every
Saturday morning, when he left the
bank and before he stepped into his
carriage, the door of which Mr.. Cattley
always opened for him, gave him some
thing. it was noticed; but whether a
sovereign or threepennv piece was a
matter of uncertainty, the claw-like
hand of Jacob closing so quickly on the
gift The junior clerks thought it
would be a ''threepenny," Mr.. Gold
chest not being liberal psymaster, in
their humble opinion, forcibiy expressed
each quarter day; but Jacob, probably
of reticent disposition, never let them
know, and 81 all events he did not wax
fat on his emoluments, and in the rainy
and frosty seasons caught many cold
and cough, and wore, winter and sum-
mer. the same suit OF gray thrcadbarc
clothes, TO which, in very Indictment
weather, red cotton neckerchief. re-
heved by white lozenges, and tied in a
strange knot, was added. by way OF
protection to girafe-like throat.
Jacob was considered poor hanger
on, but Jacob had his hangers-on. too,
and people whom in his turn he took
upon himself to patropize. There are
Always depths below depths in this &C.
centric world of ours, and always some
poor brother and sister to whom hand
can. be held out, or G little kindness
rendered, and Jacob Cattley had his de-
pendent in the background, and one
who waited and watched for him as
regularly after banking hours on Sat-
urdays. as he waited and watched for
Mr.. Goidehest about noon; and this de-
pendent on Mr.. Cattley was a dark
haired, dark-eyed purveyor of penny
-'button- holes and two penny bou-
Gue;s: poor fower-girl, who regarded
Mr.. Cattley as regular customer on
SATURDAYS. one who was always good
for a penny, sometimes even twO-pence,
when he had been extra fortunate in
the city.
Jacob. it may be said, never pur-
chased his flowers in Lombard street;
no one in that busy center mad ever seen
Jacob Cattley spend penny-p;ece on
anything; but once away from the city
proper. and hurrying away toward
Blackfriars Bridge-on the Surrey side
of which be lived, and which he crossed
regularly twice day to and from his
''plaee of bushes" any one who had
taken the trouble to watch him-which
no one ever had-would have seen
Jacob somewhere in the neighborhood
of Ludgate Hill bargaining with Polly
Baxter Tor hoSegay every Saturday
afternoon.
Jacob Cattley would even condescend
TO patronize Polly Baxter, and to occa-
slonally pass remark upon the wealth.
er, or the extent of her stock in trade;
but all this was done in an austere,
stand-offish way, which did not eneour.
age conversation in return, and which
was a washed-out copy of the great
GoldcheSt manner, when the big bank
er ssated across the pavement to his
carriage. Polly Baxter did not know
this, and thought it Was very kind of
the old gentleman in the queer-looking
comforter 10 say word or bow to her
now and then--words which, with all
their GOODNESS. had little ring in them
OF interest o. sympathy, or something
Hot easy to comprehend, and which the
fiower-giri did not attempt in any way