St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1891-06-13

n. COW
matinee We summoned the entire
staR Of the theater. even TO the sweeps
and gaslighters. but every man and
woman swore that no such thing had
been found. We searched the chair she
had occupied and the aisles in vain.
Then we gave It up. She started away
sobbing. After awhile she came back
and told q tho necklace waS done up
In q small package. :
"'Oh,' said I, why didn't you say -
in the first placer We supposed 1t wai
ON your neck
"'Why. l didn't think to tell you
that
$50 we brought out several packages
that had been found, and she selected
one that looked like her package. BE.
fore opening it she described the neck;
lace accurately. Then / opened tho
package and there was tho necklace,
indeed q costly thing Of tho most su;
perb workmanship. She said she had
bought it for a wedding present and
handed me Q card containing the namo
Of very well-known woman.
"A man once came back after per
formance and said, with q white face,
that he had left seven hundred dollars
in tho thcatcr. We went to his seat
and found the roll Of bills caught in tho
Joint. The swecpcrs had overlooked It
But people don't often get book money
or pOcketboObA You can't control tho
honesty of the theater employee you
know. We have the most stringent
rules governing this matter. An en-
ploye is instantly dismissed il he fails
to return a found article, and If It il Of
any value and he is caught retaining 1t.
the theater becomes the prosecutor and
secs that he catches all the penalty the
law will enforce.
People In the audience, believe, in
very many cases steal lost articlca
have observed audiences leaving tho
theater many times, and have good rcar
son for saying so. 1t is very easy in
passing down an aislc with q crowd to
place . hand ON the head ct IN uun-
brclla or cane standing up against q
chair where somebody has left it, or
upon o wrap carelessly left over tho
back Of o chair. You will seldom see .
thief pick up anything which has fallen
to the floor. however, for the act of
STOPPING down attracts attention. So
it is that money and small articles
dropped on the floor are seldom stolen
by thieves In the audience, though I
have known thieves to drop an umbrella
or hat In order to make an excuse for
STOPPING down, II you see anyone stoop
down and openly pick up lost bill q
article from the floor you can nearly
always take it for granted that the
finder is an honest man ond means to
leave it at the box Office.
'Once, however, l saw an honest man
overcome by temptation and yield while
on his way out of the theater. 1t was
an interesting study in human nature.
l was standing wherc I could see all
the changing emotions In his face. and
the fact that his face was 80 plainly
read convinccs me that he was honest
at heart He was young man, neatly
but chcaply dressed. / hal casually
observed him during the play, because
he scented to enjoy it 50 hugely. He
was evidently treating himself to an
unusual enjoyment. Passing out Of
the thcatcr with the crowd, he sudden
ly stopped down and scooped up somc-
thing from the floor. lie examined it
openly and curiously, and noticed II
was q roll of bills. lie called the atten-
ton of a man near him to the find.
and they exchanged words sYilingly.
They were evidently strangers II
took some time to pass down the aisle.
during which time he was tempted.
struggled and yielded His facc ex-
pressed only amusement and curiosity
at first Then he opened the roll and
counted the bills He puckcred his
lips into q silent whistle. Suddenly .
furtivc expression crossed his face, the
bills dropped out of sight. his lips
closed and he glanced quickly around
him. No one was noticing him. Then
he put ono hand to his forehead, and
slowly shook his head Then his face
cleared; but immediately aftcrward tho
furtive look came back, and he bit his
lip again, and again glanced round
Finally, after several such changes OF
countcnancc, he dropped his eyes to tha
floor and pushed forward ncrvously
and quickly. I followed him into tho
foyer. He dropped to ono side behind
q curtain till all near him when no
found the money had passed out Then
he pulled his hat over his eyes and
walked ropidly out. At the door laid
my hand firmly on his arm. He started
and turned pale.
"'That money you found, and-stole.
said in o low tone.
"Hc handed It to me instantly.
dropped his face In his hands, and broke
into sobsL
"I-I-never stole before he
gasped
~ know it, said 1, and that is why
don't arrest you now. am detec'
tive
Il let 90 of his arm. and he darted OF
on q run. The roll contained four hun
drcd dollars.
Corrsspooding without stamps.
Two local business men made .
wager regarding the payment OF local
postage. A said he could send . letter
through the Springfield post Office that
would be delivered to B, who would re
turn an answer to him. and neither A
nor B would pay any postage. nor
would any be required Baecepted the
wager. A and d exchanged en-
velopes bearing their respective
business cards thereon, and agreed
on a fictitious address. like John
Jameson, Boston, MasA A wrote
letter TO B, using tho envelope with