Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-10-02
In LUCK AT LAST
BY WALTER BEsANT.

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nIB VHN book shop is thai
YI1 I'M occupied BY EN-
AIgsA WAID blem's in the
Myl9SH HSN Kings road, CheE
Emblem's Is one Of two or three shop
which stand together, but it differs from it
nsighbors in many important particulars
For it has no plate-glass, as the Others have
nor does it stand like them with open doors
nor does it fare away gas ut night; nor Is 1t
bright with gliding and fresh paint; nor
does it ek to attract notice by posters and
bills. On the contrary, 1t retains the Old,
small and unpretending panes Of glass which
it has always had; in the evening it is dimly
lighted, and ~itcloses early; itsdoor is always
shut, and although the name over the shopis
dingy, one feels that a coat Of paint, whilelt
would certainly freshen up the place, would
take something from its character. For a
secondhand bookseller who respects him
self must present an exterior which has
something Of faded splendor, Of worn paint
and shabbiness. Within the shop books line
the walls and cumber the floor There are
an outer and an inner shop; in the former a
small table stands among the books, at
which Mr.. James, the assistant, is always at
work c~ataloguing, when he is not tying up
parcels; sometimes even with gum ana
paste repairing the slighter rayages OF
time-foxed bindings and close-cut margins
no man can repair. In the latter, which
is Mr.. EmbIem's sanctum, there are chairs
and q table, also covered with books, a
writing desk, a small safe and a glass case,
wherein are secured the most costly books
in stock. Emblem's, as must be confessed,
is no longer quite what it was in former
days; twenty, thirty or forty years ago
that glass case was filled with precious
treasures. In those days if a man wanted a
book OF county history, or Of %genealogy, or
of heraldry he knew where was his best
chance Of finding it, for Emblem's, in its
prime and heyday, had its speciality.
But Emblem is now old, and Emblem's
shop is no longer what it was to the collector
of the last generation.
1t was an afternoon in late September, and
in this very year Of grace, eighteen hundred
and eighty-four. The day was as sunny and
as any of the days Of its predecessor
Augustus the Gorgeous, but yet there was an
autumnal feeling in the air which made it
self felt even in tine streets where there were
no red and yellow Virginia creepers, nc
square gardens with long trails of mignon-
cite and banks of Towering nasturtiums. In
fact, you cannot any where escape the autumn
nal feeling, which begins about the middle
Of September. 1t makes old people think
sadness that the g~rasshopper is a bur-
len in the land, and that the aimond-tree is
about to flourish; but the young 1t fills with
/ vinous and intoxicated rejoicing, as if the
sime Of feasting, fruits, harvests and young
wine, strong and fruity, was upon the world.
It made Mr.. James-his surname has never
been ascsrtained, but man and boy, Mr..
has been at Emblem's for twenty-five
Years and ~more-leave his table where he
was preparing the forthcoming catalogue,
90 to the open door, where he wasted a
rood minute and a half in gazing up at the
sky and down the sunny street. Then
ie stretched his arms and returned to his
FORK, inpelled by the sense Of duty rather
han by the scourge of necessity, because
was no hurry about the catalogue and
most OF the books in it we're rubbish, and at
hat season Of the year few customers could
oe expected. and there were no parcels to tie
Up and send out
Behind the shop, where had been original
v the back parlorn in the days when
very genteel house in Chelsea had both its
.ront and back parlor-the latter for sitting
md living in, the former for the reception
II eompany-sat this afternoon ths proprie-
or. the man whose name had stood above
.he shop for fifty years, the original and
,nly Emblem. He was-nay, he is-for you
nay still find him in his place, and may
make his acquaintance over a county his
.ory any day in the Kings Road-he is an
I'D man now, advanced in the seventies, who
vas born before the battle OF Waterloo was
and can remember Chelsea when it
vas full of veterans wounded in battles
ought long before the Corsican Attila was
ct loose upon the world. His face wears
he peaceful and wise expression which be-
ongs peculiarly to his profession. Other
make a man look peaceful, but not
other callings make him look wise. Mr..
Emblem was born by nature of a
aim Observation-Disclosures he would
lot have been happy in his business; a
mile lies generally upon his lips and his
ives are soft and benign; his hair is white,
md his face, once ruddy, is pale yet not
hrunk and scanned with burrows as happens
o so many old men. but round and firm;
ike his chin and lips it is clean shaven; be
years a black coat extraordinarily shiny in
he sleeve, and a black silk stock just as he
ised to wear in the thirties when he was
roung and something Of a dandy, and
would show himself on a Saturday evening
n the pit Of Drury Lane; and the stock is
behind with a silver buckle. He Ia
n fact, a delightful old gentleman to look
It and pleasant to Y with, and on his
row everyone who can read may see,
isibly stamped, the seal Of a harmless and
life. At the contemplation Of such q
nan, ones opinion Of humanity is sensibly
aised, and even h~ouse-agents, plumbers and
uburban builders, feel that, after all virtue
uay bring with it some reward.
The quiet and warmth Of the afternoon,
nbroken to his accustomed ear, as it would
Q to a stranger, by the murmurous roll of
,ondon, made him sleepy, In his hand he
a letter which he had been reading for
hundredth time, and which he knew by
cart every word; and as his eyes closed he
-snt back in imagination to a passage in