The Arkansaw traveler., 1886-04-24
A STORY OF AUTOGRAPHS
Corahnl Masasiut i

at a hSh-nlon ger : shop m otu tOnGer~ ford market. kept hy Yarmouth man named lay friend, himself from Nar, mouth. no tiShmonSer buta connoiSSeur and collector ot autosraphs--wlth more over a sick son. for whom he deSlrVsd to buy <oles He buys his soles and they are wrapped for him in large stiff sheet ] of paper. torn from a folio volume that stands at ,lav elbow on the dresser and with that the conuoi>>eur goes home, uuwrappiug the soleS, delivers them to the cook; when. there an the large stiff sheet ot paper his wrll-traincd i eve catches the signatures otGndolphln, Sunderland. Ashley, lauieriale, The wrapping of the >oles is a sheet ot the victualliny charges for prisoners m the Tower in the reign of James IL. and the signatures are those nt his ministers.
 Any other man must have gwen some sign have gone otf to tell somebody. i Not So the conuois>eur. but he takes his hat and stick and whi>thng a bit, walks back straight into Lay shop the shop of his fellow townsman anal he ] sav> That pretty good paper oi yours, .lay says he and Jay says Yes, II k. but placuy >tlh wrapping the whiting in another great sheet ot the totlo. and adds I've got good hlt ot II, too, | gel l; from Somerset House
 The conuoisseur heart gives a great leap but the hero ot d hundred bargains he remains cool and asks the prire ot cod fNepcnec. returns Jay they advertised ten tons ot waste paper and offered = tou which they took Il Ne sec And lye got three tons of II lu the stables. and the other seveu thev keep ull want lt All hke this3
 asks the conneiS>eur taint with eNpec. tanev Pretty much replies ,laA. all odds and ends
 The counuis>cur ro,.- home with whiting with cod. with markerel with ,kat, with parcels al every klnd al fish for his poor taneitul sick seu and. moreover with n great huudle ui these precious papers from somerset llaus,' handed oyer to him carcleSsN hv hi, fellow town,man ,IaN who knows hs friend little weakness for ruhl.>h and fragments. and utliriupiN sends round to the stables for an armtul for hm Aud safe at home the reunel~>tur cast, the fish on the tlnor ami uarrca>ee tlle papers and his head N ms a> hv louks on accounts of the rNrheQuer office >gned hy Henry MI and Henry \ H. wardrah" accounts ut Queen Auur and dividend t"rclpt> signed hY Pope New. ton. Dryden and Wren He k auhg,d to throw up the window tar ar u iu his armtul he discovers secret svfN ice accounts marked with the r. C of Nell Gwynn,. T treatise ou the Eacha. rlst. in the hovish hand of Edwari VI and a disquisition on the tTdcr of the Garter in the scholarly writing ot tlucru Elizabeth The government III ,li~pos- ing hy tender ot thrlr eld papers today. the tishmou.er have disposed al memo rals of those whom. if the country has not most reason to h" prolid, she ha, at least most reason tn remember
 During the next week or ,o the con. noisseur k scarcely ever out of Jnv shop and show, >o lively a regard for lav conversation and old rubhIshiuc papers that Jay scarcely knows whether to admire or pIty lnm nn one prctcNt or another h. constantly carries of lit tle bundles Ui wrappcr~ and SO might hay" continued till the supply was cX- hau~tcd hld not h." ikea true connois- -cut. began to exhibit his treasures and with many pokes and winke detail his own astonishing astutvnces and Jay crcdulItN. First. cautiously enough to hi. own immediate relatives tn an -Gneln MlIu=n tastes are similar. and who raids on Jay with spring cart. hut soon th" news spreads and there are eo many of these ii~hy vi~it- paid to ,lay that he hcglns to suspect thru pufi,ort and overhauling what i- lrit ui hl> three tons forthwith and hcncrlor,h wraps his turbot in the .No,1,aJ .St,r. aud gives the wardrobe accounts o' Queen Anne a rest And now the government are reused to sense If their l9-- Are thrr" thieves at Som,r r,,t House. Whence. otherwise comes II that letters of Cardinal Wol-cy to hi> king are m the marktt2 Whcnc" that the cores pondrnc" hctw"cn Clement MI and Henry VIII on the subject ui his di vorcc are in th" possession of a dealer willing to part with them again for goldt These precious pai'or- are. and eyer have been government prult"rty
 what rat has gnawrd hi- waN Into the ancient chcst- and let thc winds of heaven wautonly scatter them,
 Ihrn the whol" a'lar i- blown and the putlic Clanor for committee 0i iu. uuirV. and while the corllnitt,r sits HHfltE- ft'.-tt''b'l liitp tue vaults ti ~omer-et House. and by the o;hrial or. der so mutIat" poor .iav remaining seven tons ,with which he had flat. 'eged himself he would much more sdvanta genusly deal than wlth thte first threc) that except for -prl' wrapping and the yerir-t herring iurpo-e- for which after all they were sold they are u-eie-s and |" complete th" tale. oi his mistortun"- the d"youriug element make short work of his stables and all that wa- l~ft Of th" early delivery oi the-" rriceo-- rrcord- -o thai at the end .tay of IIuug"rford Market hnd- himself pretty much whers |" h"ea1i cx c~p, for the reputation so hardly won of having for sofnc three week. wrapped ,oles in official folio docunent- which the British Museum would nave been only too proud tg Ilart. under their br-'