Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-01-30
THREE BURGLARS.
By FRANK Il. STOCKTON.
lCu?Yn ,iuT, Ri

81 don't think this man suffered for
want of educntion,' said my wife; The
used very good language; that was one
of the first things that led me to suspect
him. 1t is not likely that sons of boat
builders speak so correctly and express
! themselves SO we'll"
''Of course, | can not alter your opin-
IONS" said Aunt Martha, but the story
interested me, and l very much wish to
hear whas that other man has to say for
himself"
Every we'll" said l, you shall hear
it, but must drink my tea and go back
to the prisoners"
! "And J." said Aunt Martha, "will take
some tea to them. They may be bad
men, but they must not suffer-
| had been in tho library but q few
moments when Aunt Martha entered,
! followed by Alice, who bore a tray con-
tanning three large cups of tea and some
! biscuit.
"Now, them" said Aunt Martha to me,
eff you will unite their hands, l will
give them some tea"
At these words each burglar turned
his eyes on me with q quick glance. I
laughed.
Hardly" said l. 81 would not be
willing to undertake tho task of tying
them up again, unless. indeed. they
will consent to drink some moro of my
/ wine"
(Which we won't do said the middle
burglar, land that's flat
| "Then they must drink this tea with
their hands tied" said Aunt Martha, in
tone of rcproachful resignation, and,
FOL NO fra,- CHI
preached the stout man and held it to
his lips. At this act of extreme kind
ness we were all amused, even the
burglars companions smiled, and David
so far forgot himself as to burst into
laugh, which, however, he quickly
checked. The stout burglar. however.
saw nothing to laugh at. lie drank the
tea, and never drew breath until the
cup was cmptied.
II forgot" said my aunt, as she re-
moved the cup from his lips. ''to ask
! you whether YOU took n,ucii or little
sugar
| 'Don't make no difference to me-"
answered the man. Tea isn't malt
liquor it's poor stuff any way, and it
! doesn't matter to me whether it's got
sugar in it or not, but it's moistenin,
and that's what l want. Now, madam,
I'll just say to you, if ever l break into
a room whore you're slcepin' III see
that you don't come to no harm. even if
you sit up in bed and hollcr."
"Thanll YOU" said Aunt Martha,
"but hope you viii never again be
concerned in that sort of business"
He grinncd. THAT depends on cir
cumstanccs." said he.
Aunt Martha now offered the tall man
some tea, but he thanked her very re-
spectfully and declined. The young
man also said that he did not care for
tea, but that if the maid-loo!ling at
Alice-wou!d give him glass of water
he would be obliged. This was the first
timo he had spoken. His voice was low
and of n Pleasing tone. David's face
grow dark. and we could see that he OBJ
iectcd to this service from Alice.
81 will give him the water myself"
said Aunt Martha. This she did, and l
noticed that the mans thirst was very
soon satisfied. When David had been
refreshed and biscuits refused by the
burglars, who could not very we'll cat
the.n with their hands tied, We all sat
Gown, and the stout man began his
story. | give it as he told it, emitting
|
a good deal OF slang which would DO
unintclligiblc to the general reader.
''Therc's no use" said the burglar,
''for me to try and mako any of you be-
lieye that I'm Il pious gentleman under
cloud, for | know l don't look like it,
and wouldn't be likely to make out a
case"
At this the tall man looked at him very
severely.
II don't mean to say" he continued,
'that my friend here tried any thing
like that. Every word he said was per
fectly true, as could personally testify
if was called upon the stand, and what
I'm goin' to tell you is likewise solid
fact.
"My father vas craftsman, and a
frst-rate one, too; he brought me up tc
the business, beginning when was very
small. ! don't remember havin' any
mother, so I'll leave her out, MY old
man was very particular, he liked to see
things done right. One day was with
him and we saw timer mailing new
leader or tin water-spout to the side of 8
| house.
"'Look here, young man. says dad
you're maxim pretty poor job of that
lou uon pun III enough Halls, ana tney
amt half drove in. Supposin' there was
; a fire in that house some night, and the
family had to come down by the spout
and your nails would give way and they'i
break their necks? What would yo,
think then? And l can tell you what i
is, young man. can appear ag'in you fol
doing poor work.
The timer grumbled, but he uset
more nails and drove 'cm tight, dad ant
me standin' by an looking at him. ON
rainy night not long after this dad tool
me out with him and we stopped il
front of this house. Now, Bobbie
said he, 4 want you to climb into tina
open second-story window and the1
slip downstairs and open the front doc
for me; the family's at dinner"
".lIow am 7 to ret m dad2' said T.