Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-10-24
THE MEWLER CATASTROPHE.

THE MEWLER CATASTROPHE.
could never bring myself to believe
there ever existed such a parsonage as
the oft-quoted crossing sweeper, whose
..pitch" in the neighborhood of Regent
street was such a profitable affair that,
being a man naturally of refined tastes,
he was enabled after business hours, to
dress like a gentleman, and as such
seek polite and refined recreation. 1t
is related Of this %suppositious artist in
mud that, one evening, at some public
assembly, he made the acquaintance of
a highly respectable young lady, and,
passing himself off to her and her friends
as a merchant in the city, eventually
married her, having previously fur
nished q nice little house in the suburbs.
Every morning, sssmartly attired, he set
out from home for his ''office," return
ing punctually to a late dinner. But
he had a place where he changed his
'broadcloth and spotless linen for grimy
calico and rags. All day long he APP
piled himself to his crossing, and hay
ing pocketed the couple of pounds, or
whatever the sum was that commonly
rewarded his industry, he once more
assumed respectable guise, and took
omnibus for his villa residence. As the
legend goes, however, it CHANGED one
day that his wife went shopping in Re-
gent street, and, availing herself of her
disguised husbands n~eatly-swept cross
ing, bestowed on him a very peculiar
looking sixpence. He recognized her,
and his momentary glance was such
that he did not particularly notice the
coin, but slipped it into his pocket with
the rest. That same night, however,
he handed her some loose silver for
drifting housekeeping purposes. She at
once spotted the queer s%ixpence, and
when she demanded how he became
possessed Of it, taken by surprise, he
had no time to invent a falsehood, and,
falling on his knees, he confessed all.
Since, as l say, l never could give
implicit credence to the crossing
sweeper's story, l should not feel sur
priscd if the reader smiles obviously
when I ask him to believe what here
follows. Every morning there alights
from a neat little phaeton at the corner
of Il street at no great distance from
Stepney green q stout and middle-aged
gentleman, very respectfully dressed,
and having the appearance of 4 person
in easy circumstances. The lad in
sober livery, who drives the vehicle
then turns about, and is seer no more
until five o'clock in the evening in the
winter-time and six in the summer,
when the same stout and respectable
gentleman reappears, and returns the
way he came in the morning. 1t is not
in any warehouse Oh factory, however,
that he passes the day. Hurrying down
the street at the end of which he
alighted, he turns a corner and enters
a quiet little public-house, and the
landlord or %landlady, as the case may
be, is not in the least astonished but re-
CARDS it quite as a matter of course
that he should pass the bar, just
nodding in reply to their ''Good morn
ing" and proceed upstairs. An
acute listener below might distinctly
hear the key turned in the lock of a
door, and after a lapse of ten minutes
or so the landlord is again not sur
prised to see descending the stairs an
Individual with the same face and
features as the aforementioned stout
gentleman, but wearing now a blue
smock with q serge apron of the same
color, drab knee-breeches, worsted
stockings, and substantial hob-nailed
boots. He does not pass the bar this
time. He pa.lses, and withdraws from
his pocket Il greasy-looking m~oney-bag,
and the landlord remarks to him: 1.-The
same as usual, Mr.. Mewlcr?" To
which the customer replies, with a
hearty and familiar manner: "Same
as usual, old cockalorum,'' whereupon
the landlord produces a tumbler half
filled with milk, and adds to it a small
glass Of rum. Mr.. Mewlcr disposes of
the comforting decoction, gives the
landlord a cheering good-day, and
bustlcs off in a hurry, for it is 10Y past
eight o'clock. and unless he bestirs him
self he will be late at his business, which
is dealing wholesale and retail in ''cats-
meat"
And having thus let out of the bag
the animal for whose appetite MI.
Mewlcr is a provider, it is only right
I should hasten to explain that it is
not because he is ashamed of the trade
lie has been so many years prosperously
engaged in, or that, personally, he is
anxious to pass in private life for being
what he is not. that he comes daily to
business in the manner described. If
there is a weakness involved in the
affair it is an amiable one. 1t is
wholly and solely in Difference to his
wifa's idea of what is due to their In