St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-06-02

ance OF the av-
erage paw n
shop. That mys-
tic symbol of barter and trade, the three
golden balls, seems to dangle in mld-alr
as though Judge Lynch had just fin.
ished melting out justice to a trio. of
Western horse thieves. leaving their
dead bodies swinging to and fro, their
pendulOus rhythm seeming to say,
flake care, take care, take care"
The question From what source does
the wealth of the pawnbrOker cOme?''
would appear at the first glance to need
but one answer, and that one COM
| prised in one short word of seven let
tiers, put most painfully significant
poverty. 1t has all ugly sound. this
word poverty. Close familiarity and
contact with it only reveals more dis
tinctly its hideOuS aspect. In the fore
ground it is painfully prominent;
neither the garish lights of high noon
nor the hushed quietnde Of the deepen
ing twilight can change or soften the
hard lines that bear such painful i'm
pressions of stern. harsh truth.
Short indeed is the step from mod
crate circumstances" to the lower level
known as poverty. The trade winds OF
the tickle jade too often blow in the
wrong direction, and the salvage from
the wreck is scarce worth the eXertlons
made in the recovery OF it. Health,
ambition, friends and love are too often
irretrieyably lost in the desperate
struggle to reach favored haven that
is in sight, but never reached.
Seen in the background, with riches
and comforts of every description to aid
Ill tonings down the = effects -pfottheed
no apparent elimination of the figure.
is perceptible. Gaunt and hideous in
its outlines. no known process has yet
succeeded in obliterating them entirely.
But poverty is not the only needle
that is attracted to the house of the
worthy .'uncle." There is another
class, who, for want of a better term,
may be called pawnomaniacs. u
Did you ever number among your list
of acQuaintances any affected with this
uncomfortable pawnbroking impulse?
Talk about confirmed drunkards, the
opium or, in the vernacular, HOP"
fiends; the victim of the quinine, or
hasheesh. or ginger, or cigarette, or i'll
fact, any of the habits that have fast
ened themselves so firmly in the nine
teenth century upon mankind! Why,
none of them can compare in intensity
or fiXedneSS, in SteadfaStneSS of pur-
pose, with the thralldom which encom-
passes the pawnomaniac. The stages
in the disease are so impercepti-
BILE, the progressing lines so mi
mute and indistinct, that before
the victim is aware OF it the habit is so
firmly implanted i'm the system that a
permanent cure is quite impossible.
Sufferers from other maniaS have rene
dies, quack and otherwise, thrust upon
their attention. Retreats, aSylums, ETC.,
are provided. and, in some instances,
munificently endowed. There the habit
ual violator of Natures laws can be
watched and tended, possibly eventu-
ally to be restored to fair degree of
health and the confidence and esteem
Of former friends.
The writer had an interesting chat
with one of these victims of the willy
Israelite who presides at the gilded
spheres. His downfall was told in a
particularly graphic, not to say thrill
ing, manner. The forced popularity
which he infused into his narrative was
only too apparent and painfully OBJ
viOus. While the writer is unable to
produce his language, his story ran
about thus:
''My downward career dates from the
day l received a straight tip from
''frlend" on the sure winner at the old
Columbia pool room. With pencil and
paper he proved to me that the only
way the favOrite could lose was to die
before the turn was reached. 1t was,
as he expressed it, a 'cinch.'
"Weil, to make the story short, l took
stock in the tip, OF rather bought tick
cts from bookmakerS. At the odds of 5
to placed $3.50, all my earthly wealth.
except some change and watch, ring
and few other trinkets Of more or less
that / played my money straight, it
waiting for the horses to come to the
post, had constructed several castles in
the air. A short horse is soon curried,
and the race was quickly run. The in
fernal animal that carried my money
did not die before the turn was reached,
neither did he pass under the wire
amid the wild acclaim and stentOrian
huzzas of the vast multitude. In fact,
though the sure winner started, it was
never heard of in the race, and was
last to come under the wire. The peo-
pie who bought the winner said
it was remarkab lie race. /
have not the slightest doubt but
that 1t was. However much it may have
pleased the Ignorant multitude VINO had
not automatically demonstrated which
horse should win, the result had no
charms for me.
81 had promised to take young lady
to the theater that same evening. But
with what? Where was the collateral?
It would be of no avail to make excuses.
The simoleons must be forthcoming,
and that forthwith. There was only one
resource. and that to visit the pawn
broker and negotiate loan at 10 per
cent a month. l had often heard the
boys speak of soaking their valuables.
but had never performed the little act
myself. But it had to be done.
$50, fortifying myself with a decoc-
ton from bottle labeled 1856. l went
forth to tackle the lion in his lair, or
rather, the liar in his den. soon came
to the shock shop but then weakened;
it was impossible for me to enter the
portals. 1t was growing late, and was
soon due at the young lady's house.
The next time encountered the
dreaded sign in I plunged, looking
Al, 14Sk