Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-03-06
THE BIRD DETECTIVE.

a little WZtncu iDpktue uAai u NuuAiA1
,aild with stubby and unprosperous beard
II ightish brown color, pair Of sharp, susr
picious syes which darted at your face now
and again very keenly, and mouth that
seemed to have been wrung away from bit
ing knotty crusts, or perhaps by the ravages
Of neuralgia
Truthfully Dick had taken his share Of
trusts with the world, for they seemed to
nave been his natural Inheritance. He was
put of with crusts when too small to re-
monstrate at the injustice, and every one
seemed to have followed in the track Of his
parents with their donations of crusts, sup
posing him to be a receptacle for them This
Is way that the world seems to have. This
stinting and stunning had warped Dicks ma
ture and given him a dry, harsh tone as it
had an unlovely face and figure, but he had
never budged at his destiny, taking to the
crusts as they came along and c-unching
them bitter or sweet with the logged hope
that some day the people who had been get
ting the gingerbread would change places
with him
This was not nice spirit for young man
70 cultivate, and some peoplea good deal bet
rer of than Dick might criticise it, although
they might have no objection to his eating
their crusts
to be loved much either by his family or his
neighbors, while against his greater neighbor,
mankind, he nursed almost insensibly a little
well deserved grudge on his own account
Withal, he was prosperous in a way, very
humble one, and in an avocation not usually
chosen by ambitious people. 1t was not
chosen by Dick with whom necessity sup
piled the place Of preference in a good many
matters.
He was engaged in the sale Of second hand
clothing in the great center of that trade the
renowned Baxter street, Of which the sur
roundings, although unique, are painfully
unromantic, and where the names of the house
of Isaac predominant over all others, ancient
and modern. The store was not the property
of Dick, but of the Widow Creecy upon
whose death it would belong to Dick, his
brother and two sisters.
Dick, however, constituted the manage
ment, as the widow was bedridden, the daugh-
tiers lazy and the brother worthless
With these conflicting elements it was
hardly possible to expect an angelic dispo-
sition of Dick, who, in order to get the crusts
which kept body and soul together was shut
up eternally in the grim looking store among
the cast off garments, while the others
amused themselves as they liked best and
abused Dick for variation
The drudge confined his attention to bust
ness and let them go, course he had found
to he the most profitable and had consequent
ly adopted. BY this means he had brought
the affairs of the family from bankruptcy
into the comfortable condition of a thousand
dollar surplus
This thousand dollars was kept in a safe in
store ready to be expended at any moment
when a favorable opportunity presented for
sorting up stock.
The sole companion of Dick during all this
long apprenticeship to patience and thrift
and the miscellaneous virtues which go to
make a successful merchant, was a meager
and dilapitated jackdaw.
Between Dick and the jackdaw existed q
strong sympathy and something of resem-
blance They both looked Injured to hard
knocks The jackdaw was minus leg and
an eye His survival was due to the inter-
ference of Dick, who had purchased its i'm
munity from further mutilation at the hands
of brother by administering licking to him.
Since then the bird had devoted itself to
Dick with the gratitude which the dumb ere
alton invariably shows for kindness from
man. There was even n similarity in the
manner of speech of the jackdaw and its
master, for the bird could speak fluently
few sentences which Dick with some care
had taught it to remember and the incisive
style in which it said these things had been
copied unconsciously by Dick
There was also a sagacious and sententious
manner about the jackdaw which Dick, prob
ably from studying it, had adopted to ad-
vantage.
But if the jackdaw's preference for its de-
lverer was marked, its dislike for the brother
who had MANNED it was quite as conspicuous.
At his approach Jack would select a dark and
secure corner, from which retreat it would
never venture till he had left the place. From
this corner, with the red light of its eyes
cleaning like diabolic fire, it would watch its
enemy with malignant look terrible TO wit
ness even in bird.
Enthusiastically they loathed one another,
and it was doubtful If tho vanity of the jack
daw could ever have been appeased for the
loss of its leg and eye, even if its hatred b ad
been overcome pride being such a strong in
gredient in its nature
1t was the custom of Dick to close up his
store at about 10 p. M, and after boiling
himself securely in, to retire to a comfortable
crib he had made himself in the back Of the
store. Sometimes it was true, he consoled
himself for an hour with his story paper, but
more often, being tired, he went straight to
bed.
The jackdaw, perched on a beam some ten
feet above him, watched over the slumbers
Of the young merchant as il it had been his
guardian angel
1t was some two hours after he had ad-
journed to bed. one wet, miserable wipuers
night, that Dick awakened by his friend
the jackdaw in the way it usually awoKe him
when he oversight himself in the morning or
when suspicious sounds reused the fears Of
the watcher
1t was by pecking gently at its masters
nose that the jackdaw reused Dick from his
slumbers and brought him, rubbing his eyes,
to his feet.
Dick soon discovered the cause of the jacE-
DAVIS alarm There was some one tapping
gently on the window. Pulling on his trous-
| ers Dick went Immediately to the front Of
the store, and found that his brother Harry
was outside beseeching admittance. There
was not much love lost between the brothers,
- Dick looked upon Harry u scapegrace,
whose deficiencies lie had to make good by
extra labor. and Harry considered Dick as
the worst kind Of curmudgeoI,.
30 with some reluctance Dick let the doo-
drop, and his brother walked in, smelling
very strongly Of rum and tobacco and ap-
pearing to be in no good humor. Dick care
fully bolted the door after him and led the
way up the store to where the stove still
burned brightly and pushing a seat toward
his brother he sat down opposite to him
saying:
well, what is It you want with me now
you are insidef'
drunken smile came over the face of the
loafer as he blurted out:
Some of that stuff as you have salted
down, my boy. I'm in hole, and want a
hundred dollars to get me out of it.
"a hundred dollarsl" answered Dick with
nmazement and indignation; land what do
| you think have scraped and worked early
and late fort That you might go of and
spend a hundred dollars Of the savings when
| you thought of it'll You might have spared
1 yourself the trouble of calling me out of bed,
Tor you certainly won't get nickel here"
Listen to de boss" said the other with
ierisive chuckle, Think yell bluff me of,
10 you, mateyl Now, look We here, Dick,
amt no use to make any fuss over the matter
! must have the money or else go TO prison
Now, amt goin' to do no such thing when a
brother Of mine has got his hand right on
lash box wild a thousand dollars in it. dive
hearr
That's all right" answered Dick. Keep
sway from crooks an the like, an no one'll
ask yer to go ter prison
Come, Dick" said the other, trying con-
ciiiatory measures, give us a tenner to satisfy
the cop, an I'll see my mother about the bal.