The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1886-06-06

mated, be always stopped to bargain with
her for her gayest penny WORTH
And now he was missing and no one
knew where he lived, so that the mystery
of his disappearance might have been
solved bya friendly call.
He's dead, for sixpence, poor old
cove" said one Of the Juniors, pert and
over-dressed youth, whom Jacob had in
| his heart dislilxed despite the Offering of
/ a gift now and then. Hes off. depend
upon it. I'm sorry | was SO deuced hard
on him last week.
| Polly Baxter wondered more about him
| than tue rest Of athe community aware OF
bis existence. She did not know why she
| should .bother about the old man, but
| she did.
| He was something removed from her
1 life, regular customer gone, and that
1 was to be regretted when regular custom
I eTs were scarce.
| When she had bought her flowers at
| Oovent Garden in the early morning, and
had taken them to her little attic where
she made up her penny punches for the
day, she caught herself thinking of him
| and his old-fAshioned ways.
Polly Baxter earned her own living
| honestly, and made the best of her posi-
4 ton by thrift and Industry, coming very
close to starvation once or twice in the
hard times which will turn up to the hard
I workers
/ Still she fought on, and had begun to
teach herself to read and write Of late
days, and to find her way on Sundays to
a little chapel down q back street, and
listen with surprise to what they told her
there, and to wonder why IS mad been
kept from her all these years, and why no
| one in the highways and byways OF her
| life had said word about it.
Possibly thinking of this had made her
think of other people as eiioht filtered a
| little through the darkness of Polly's life,
! but she did not think great deal OF the
| poor. old fashioned little man who seemed
| to have vanished like ghost, and it be-
came matter of speculation why be had
ever bought flowers Of her at all, being a
| man who probably had not much 10 spend
| on the minor luxuries OF life.
| ssAnd so regular customer, TOO, Y
! thought Polly, with sigh.
| Suddenly The regular customer, how
lever. turned UP again one Saturday; six
| weeks or two months after everybody
| thought he was dead.
| 1t was like ghost rising up in Lom-
| bard street. and even Mr.. Goldchest, taken
unawares BY this temperance at his car
riage door. gasped out, sBless my soul E
and slipped one foot off the curbstone
into the gutter in his first surprise. He
| was even little curious for so great 4
man, and said
Have you been i'll, Jacob9'
He did not know his other name. sod
Jacob was IA. Baxter's cognomen in
| Lombard street; Cranky Jacob sssapAe-
times.
mo, sir. ] have had loss, Mr.. Cold
chest"
tOf indeed =
Mr.. Goldchest did not ask what he had
| lost; he glanced at the big rusty hatband
/ wrapped around the rusty hat Of his
humble dependent; there was a fugitive
fear, even, that there might be something
Catching from Mr.. Bakers close prox-
Unity, and he stepped with alacrity into
his carriage, and drew up his window
sharply.
He did not reward Jacob on that occa-
sion; he gave no thought to orfears which
might have accumulated during Jacobs
| absences from bis duties, and the old man
went home very thoughtfully. and with a
dow ncast ccuntenance.
On his way home he encountered Polly
Tor ghost. ana nearly dropped her basket
| ;nta the london mud If the first s;yht 'of
him - : =. = n = : $ Il
uWbv. lor' cir. who'd have tIon0bt ;tsn
abe exclaimed s !. 8. -. = e
7saTh,,slcl,i az whats~ hs said Iit,la
curionslv' - 's
aOf your being alive and moving about
,a;T ~, Us r,ad w. o s.. 49, -
been? Laid mp ~ s
Thia was n = fsn,dchast,s ;,c,;~. Ia
Int nat conveyed win 10 mncb infe 'rssI'
And His answer was the came ID hefore1
.slsva had 4 loss' IS ~ = - = ~. Z
sNot---not monevYp
i slsvaI loat mn da,3chtar. az, 7 had Il t,e
world all mi 1 csrd for child Good s, 4, 10 ~
~ so;d ..,<tls - =, ~ o.,,';s ~.