The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-04-24
THE WIZARD OF wALWoRTH.

-
THE WIZARD OF WALWORTH.
1 was recently in company with the
medical officer of health con-
nected with a parish the name of
which need not be here mentioned. He
was on a dilapidated dwelling expe-
dition. and in a dreadful little room in
one of u long row of rotten, old houses
we found a manand his wife. 1t needed
but a single glance to discover that
they were deeply plunged in poverty.
The woman was apparently much older
than the man, whose age could not
have been more than twenty-six, and
she-in a dirty, battered gown, and with
her head tied in a rag as though she
suffered from neuralgia-was about to
sit down to a meal, of which dry bread
and a toasted herring were the chief in
gradients. But / was most struck with
the husbands appearance. 1t was un-
mistakable that he was not of the COM
mon back-street type of humanity. He
was intelligent-looking and smartly
built, and, attired in decent clothes,
wouldhaye presented quite a genteel APP
pearance. At ordinary times he might
probably have passed as good looking,
but he decidedly was not SO now, with
his face distorted into an insolent,
scowling sneer occasioned, seemingly,
by the medical officers stare of sur
prise. "You in this place, Hamshirepn
he remarked. To which, with o bullying
n defiant manner, the man (the
woman, who seemed nervous and afraid
OF him, began to cry) made answer:
"Here-yes. You are precious sorry
for me, no doubt; and more sorry
still for Mrs. Hamshire, who is always
glad of something to set her off sniv-
cling. You may go to blazes, the
whole lot of you, for all 1 care, and
take her with YOU
When we had examined the other
rooms of the house and emerged in the
street, l remarked to my companion:
that man, who was without his coat,
living here with his wife. Who and
what is hep "He is about as thorough
faced a rascal IS you would find in a
days marching" was the reply. 81
certainly was surprised to see him. 1
thought he had left the neighborhood
months since. I should have supposed
he would have been glad to do so, con-
sidering how narrow an escape he had
OF being sent to prison-to penal seryi-
tude, probably. His wife-the woman
you just now saw-was implicated in
the affair l am abiding to-. But 1 be-
ieve she was more to be pitied than
blamed for the share she took in it. A
stupid creature. She should have known
better than marry the fellow, and she
old enough to be his mother. 1t was a
queer story altogether" Naturally, 1
was curious to know in what its queer
ness consisted, and inquired to that eff
feet. swell, the truth isl was the re-
reply, 'sf l knew all the details of the
story l should only spoil it. by attempt
ing its recital. There is only one indi-
vidual who car tell it properly, and
that is the victim himself, or rather, 1
should say, he whom our friend in the
dirty shirt-sleeyes designed as his vic
tim. There is not much of romance in
the matter. he continued. laughing.
'.as regards the characters who PLAYED
the leading parts in it. You have seen
MIR. Hamshire and his wife. Their con-
federate was a vagabond who, for many
years, had been practicing as a sly for
tune-teller, but he has j~udiciously kept
out OF the way since the exposure. The
hero of the tale is a foolish old fellow
who keeps a general store in one of the
by-streets a few minutes walk from
this. If you have a desire to hear the
story L will introduce you to the chand-
lery st~orekeeper by and by, and he'll
relate it readily enough. But you will
understand it better if you are first
made acquainted with the circumstan-
ces that led up to it.
''The chandlery business 1 have men
Toned was not always in the possession
OF its present proprietor. 1t belonged
to an old person whose name / FORGET.
but we'll call her Mrs. Ingledew. The
woman who is now Hamshire's wifeis
her niece, and lived with her, assisting
IN the business for many years. It
was a valuable concern, in a small
way, the goodwill and lease being
worth f600 to f700 probably, and It
was generally understood in the neigh
borhood, as a matter OF course, that
the niece would come in for and con-
tinuc the business when old Mrs. Ingle-
dew died. 1t seems to have been so
understood, at all events, by one indi-
vldual who lived t%hereabout by
Mr.. Hamshire. 1 can't tell you any
thing about his antecedents, but he
seems to be a fellow who lived by his
wits without resorting to downright
criminality. He was always, as 1 am
told, smartly dressed, and had some
preteusion of being g~ood-looking, and
a large share of impudence, and on the
strength of that capital he formed the
design OF making love to Martha-the
neice-who was turned forty, with a
view of marrying her and stepping
into the comfortable little property that
old Mrs. Ingledew must presently leave
behind her. And she, like the weak
minded simpleton she is, listened to
and encouraged him, though she
dared not do so openly, for the old
lady, her aunt, though past eighty, still
la a vlxenish temper, and if there was
n thing more than another she
strongly objected to it was Martha
getting married. But hat didn'tpreyent
It, The aunt's constitution seemed to be
at last breaking up, and Mister Ham.
shire, thinking he had so good a thing
In hand that he had best secure it with
out delay, pressed his suit with the
niece, and they were quietly married.
Not so quietly, however, but that the
old lady, who was bedridden by this
time, somehow heard of it., and was so
deeply offended that she made q new
will in place of the old one, in which
the niece appeared as the legatee, and
seemingly with no other object than to
increase the bitterness of her relatives
disappointment she bequeathed, with a
small exception, the whole of her prop
erty. including the shop business, to a
past-middle-aged bachelor lodger, who
occupied a room in the house-a slow
and harmless individual who lived on
a small pension paid him since his re-
tirement from some Gnvernnlent nfina