Mexico weekly ledger., 1894-01-04

peOpIe are my cllenLS. again L nao
an opportunity of asking him a point
blank question, and again my delicacy
prevented me from forcing another
man to confide in me. l imagined at
the time that he had some strong rea-
son for not abiding to it, but he SOC
dispelled the idea by coming round to
the subject of his OWL accord.
It vas upon the 4th of March. as I
have good reason to remember, that !
rose somewhat earlier than usual. and
found that Sherlock Holmes had not yet
finished his breakfast. The landlady
had become SO accustomed to my late
habits that my place had not been laid
nor my coffee prepared. With the I'M
reasonable petylaace of mankind |
rang the bell ~ gave a curt intima-
ton that I was ready. Then I picked
up a magazine FRI II the table and at
tempted to while away the time with
1t, while my companion munched ST.
lentiy at his toast. One OF the articles
had a pencil mark at the heading.
and I naturally began to run my eye
through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was
1.-THE Book of Life" and it attempted
to show how much an observant man
might learn by an accurate and sys-
tematic examination of all that came
in his way. 1t struck me as being a re-
markable mixture of shrewdness and
a~bsurdity. The reasoning was close
and intense, but the deductions ap-
peared to be far-fetched and exagger-
ated. The writer claimed by a mo-
mentary - ~r2ssion, a twitch of q
muscle o, q glance of an eye, to fathom
a mans inmost thoughts. Deceit, ac-
| cording to him, was an impossibility
In the case of one trained to observa-
ton and analysis. His conclusions
| were as ~infaliible as so man propo-
sitions of Euclid. So startling would
| his results appear to the uninitiated
that, until lev learned the processes
by which he had arrived at them, they
| might well consider him a necromancer.
"From a drop of water" said the
| writer, ga logician could infer the pos
sibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara
without having seen or heard of one or
the other. So all life is a great chain,
the nature of which is known whenever
we are shown a single link OF it. Like
1 II kSSt tLS SASLSS IA SSeAStANA
and analysis is one which can only be
acquired by long and patient study,
nor is life long enough to a.ow any
mortal to attain the highest possible
perfection in it. Before turning to
those moral and mental aspects of the
matter which present the greatest diff
fculties, let the inquirer begin by mas
tering more elementary problems. Let
him, on meeting a fellow-mortal. learn
at a glance to distinguish the history
of the man, and the trade or profession
to which he belongs. Puerile as such
an exercise may seem, it sharpens the
faculties of observation and teaches
one where to look and what to look
for. By a mans h~nger-nails, by his
coat-sleeve, by his boot, byhis trouser-
knees, by the callosities of his fore
finger and thumb, by his expression,
by his shirt-cuffs-by each of these
things a mans calling is plainly re-
vealed. That all united should fail to
enlighten the competent inquirer in
any case is almost inconceivable."
"What ineffable twaddle!" l cried,
slapping the magazine down on the
table; 81 never read such rubbish in
my life"
"Whatis it?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
"Why, this article" said, pointing
at it with my egg spoon as l sat down
to my breakfast. 81 see that you have
read it, since you have marked it. ]
don't deny that it is smartly writ
ten. 1t irritates me, though. It il
evidently the theory of some arm-chai,
Ioarrnar who or41rau oil fhaen raof 1;{
tie paradoxes in the seclusion of his
own study. 1t is not practical.
should like to see him clapped down IL
a third-class carriage on the Under
ground, and asked to give the trades o.
all his fellow travellers. Iwould lay &
thousand to one against him"
"You would lose your money" Sher
lock Holmes remarked, calmly. "a,
for the article, / wrote it myself"
=, "Youi"
"Yea, / have a turn both for observa
l ton and for deduction. The theories
which I have expressed there. ant
which appear to you to be SO chimeri
cal, are really extremely p~ractical-se
practical that I depend upon them fol
my bread and cheese"
Sand how?" / asked, involuntarily
"Well, I have a trade of my own.
suppose I am the only one in the world
. I'm a consulting detective, If you car
understand what that is. Here in Lon
don we have lots of government detec
! tives and lots Of private ones. Wher
; these fellows are at fault they come II
$ me, and I manage to put them on tht