The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-12-26
HARMLESS LIARS.


Jewclry store.
II want it for a friend" he said
biushing like a young girl and looking
very uncomfortable. TWAS in Smith.
field street jewelers. store, and the un
happy youth with the red cheeks was
asking for a wedding ring. He had a
little bit of silk between his finger and
thumb, and he repeated nervously to
the polite gentleman behind the counter:
Il want it for a friend-this is the
measurement. Luckily it does not
require long to choose a wedding ring.
AN old fable, fiction that almost
every man who buys wedding ring
employs" said the ieweler, as the Gus.
mer disappeared. "Of course he is
the man who will put that ring upon the
finger of the bride, but he says he
wants it for friend. There are plenty
of other white lies told in front of this
counter. Some behind it, you say? l
dare say, but a tradesman's lies about
his wares are explainable, if not ex-
cusable, on business grounds, while
some of the little lies of our customers
are fantastic fibs that one can not
account for on any theory at all.
Il have customers who tell lies de.
iberately, and, so far as can see, un
necessarily For example, there'is I
resident of this city, wealthy and wise
and, if persistent fabrication msReA
him so, wicked. He is fohd Of jjeEelry,
and has good taste. Solitaire rings are
his favorites One day in almost every
month he rushes into the store, knocks
over stool or two, perhaps scares
some lady customers nearly to DEATH
and makes me instinctively reach fol-
my revolver. Then he gasps out: q
want to see some diamond rings-awful
hurry-catch train-start for Washing.
ton--half hour.
This spasm generally lasts two
minutes. Afterward he settles quietly
down and perhaps spends an hour look.
ing ut diamonds, He never varies his
formula, is always just on the point Of
going to Washington, and | happen tC
know he never goes A remarkable
romancer comes from a good family
She is widow, and has money, and ]
often wonder she does not find a mate
again, she is so pretty. At intervals
she comes here and weaves q pretty
little story for my special benefit.
There is a variety about her fibs which
makes them charming. They are as
ingenious as they are unaccountable.
"a month ago she came in with her
little Girl. She had some magnificent
diamond earrings, the handsomest
stones and the best cut of any have
seen in Pittsburgh. They were in her
ears when she entered the store. Mr.
-, want you to take these ear.
rings, she said, putting them down be-
fore me, and make the settings lighter
They are too heavy, and my doctor says
such a strain upon the lobe of the ear
is very injurious. The setting could
not well have heen made lighter-a
mere cObweb tiligree. | knew my Gus.
toner too well to tell her so. | took
the earrings and did have some of the
gold taken away, and sent them back
to her.
yesterday she came agaiu and told
me that somebody had advised hel
to have the diamonds more securely sci
in her earrings. She wanted them. al
most wrapped in gold network. They
are being so treated now. You vii
hardly believe me when I tell you thai
in the last two years I have set and re-
set those diamonds twenty times, anC
every time my lady has had a new
reason for making the change
''Why she should object to acknowl
edge that she is proud aud fond Of hel
diamonds is more than can see.
u could multiply instances of habit
ual mendacity by ten, without encroach
ing upon the ranks of the cranks pure
and simple, with whom every trades
man is more or less acquainted. y
PjisJurgb Chronicle.