The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-25

The iedy: spa tsY artist !. x. e os sae g. ssSS. y
What, that old doEr the lhady Sxclaimed
t tho minute e. ss, sh &c sOs plague SsSs on n nj III NE 4 d'f qSis - ts eS,
have !, At am price; g.. Y Si,;i0 th h,.d Is sscs anne q % =
tho right ear. But IL did NOT, come from any
old castle: i viii tel you where II was: !!
No. so,and-so Blank street. in Kinsston.and
Kingston is fifteen miles away, not a hundred
and afty. Take the horrid thing awoy.do!'
owner to take. it back, but failed; and in the
end he. had to keep tho dog and pocket tho loss.
could not sympathize with him very much.
"A curious thing, and as It turned ut rather
a comical thing, happened to my father about a
vase, at one time. IL was a small vase that be.
longed TO a wealthy business man in London,
still less since 1t had been broken and mcnded.
But II had been in the, family for q long time
brought II, TO the shop to SEQ whether my, father
could get him q duplicate OF IT. " stood there
and When at length tho owner camo after II, IL
had disappeared. We did not imagine, that any
one had stolen it, for the shop was full Of such
! only been misiaid. Al any rate, we looked high
and low for It, and no such vase could be found.
MY father, said no was very, sorry that such
circumstances tho only PREPARATION he could
mako was, to pay for II. It was not q valuable
Two poundsl' tho man shouted; goo
wouldn't pay me for that Vase; nor f5oOl l
don't want your money, want my vase. "
We'll, to make the story short, that vase led
damages. and after q while the case came up,
the owner being the first witness.
1T was ."i about M' SO 'R hIsh h"i he " s@G Answered.
holding one hand about two feet above the
"Tho next witness was the owner's house
keeper, and her ideas were larger, or else
she wanted to make her employers case as
held her hand nearly three feet above the table
aand said she was sure 4 was as big as that.
She recollected the width Of 1t, too; 1t was
bigger around than a water pail.
Before any OF my fathers witnesses had
been called there was a little commotion In
the court, and one OF our shop men pushed his
been found! 1t was soon unpacked and placed
on the table, and then everybody burst into a
eight inches high, and as big around as a / sugar
bowl. The Judge was very. angry about II and
gave the owner a severe lecture, and threat
ened to commit the housekeeper for perjury.
We did not need any witnesses after that.
One day my father was looking over some
articles in n provincial town that were Of
handsome, but not valuable.
" That is something very hne.' said the
owner. / have had that valued by Morgan,
and he tells me II is worth over s200.'
" Indeed! said my father. very much in
terested;, and what sort OF looking man is
S;,s . o ii,5is e sRi; = S $sD? i s sssals say s''s 50 or 's g.
" Then my hair must have turned black
again!' my father laughed, for ! am Morgan
had been sent him for examination by a dealer
who did not pretend to be an expert. The
house, . and the / dealer demanded emf = Is t for t. .
II think that is more than 1t was WORTH
said the sentieman to my father. and want
Two pounds, said my father, after looking
it over. Not a farthins more than that
the sam vase. 1t had been sent TO a gentle.
man for examination, he said, and the gentle
man had cracked 1t, and was not willing TO pay
1.-Two pounds!' said my father. of course,
without any mention of the vases previous
V's Eve Go a reS ali Nh iHiRR;ery to be deceived sometimes,
EEo 9,l0 know ;n9nii For instance. have 3 a handsome
and of considerable value, Years ago | wanted
n case for it, as ! intended to take It on a jour.
leather one made. When it came home my
father and brother both laughed at it, for It
antique anti a ne eabSine @0af I ah Sass lo I must q nshf make nt the
the thin leather from an oid pair Of Wellington
hiding, the clumsy seams. 1 had no idea Of
deceiving any one with it,. and the cabinet, in
its case, lay for some time in the shop.
"Nhile:it was there a professor in one Of our
being fond, of antiques and a good judge OF
them s9Ab and sbs his ,s eye so% sSo1 Gaus dnoi my Leaf Leather ss case ,.s
ing i up. That is a fine piece Of work.,
,," Thai Is only the outer case, PROFESSOR I told
he is,s exclaimed. It Is this leather case lam
work; and I should place it about the middle
st the I tsinK i soaId ffe eII 7 8Gn ,0 VIII Il. e. e little
province it was made in
81 did not have the hart IN tell b;n that
1t had been made of an old Wellington boot
about ten days before. You see, the minute a
like Il child for innocence. A sharper hardly
needs to try to deceive him. Let him alone
other peoples mistakes; now l must tell you
one OF my own. My father had a number Of
paintings, and after his death some Of them
in my share, that were supposed to be Valuable.
They had been in the family so long that we
weight in gold almost. The larger Of the two
was thought to be worth ABOUT $500 and the
smaller one goo. You know, we, did not han:
to be experts in that branch Of art. I don't
know what it was that led me to send them
down to the National Gallery. with a request
fqr an opinion OF their value. They kept Them
aO o a week, and then sent them back with
inc 3rlci message, III you can get eco for tho
two, better take it.
."Saturally we were on the lookout for choice
bits of china all over the Kingdom, and as my
brother and | grew up we were often sent out
TO examine articles, and buy them II they were
good. These little journeys took us into queer
places, where we ran risks sometimes, and some
times found n lot Of musement-for we were
both fond Of n Joke. / remember one hamlet
that We were going through ON the way TO the
railroad station, homeward bound, where we
saw a small public house bearing a large sign.
'Meux,s Entire Stout We had walked several
miles from the manor house and were tired and
warm, and II occurred to us.that a glass OF en-
tire stout would be refreshing. SO we went
into the dingy room with a sanded floor that
served for a bar, where the landlady was draw
ing ale for we or three rustic %loungers. When
we called for tho stout she drew II from a barrel
and i laid n shilling ON the table and got nv
change. We took a few swallows Of the stout
and both had to, stop and laugh, for 1t was
spoiled and utterly unfit to drink. So, still
laughing, we set down our glasses and walked
out, We were no more than outside before one
Of the men followed us; and as he opened the
door. we saw the landlady ringing my shilling
on the table. She had seen us look at one an,
other and laugh; and when we walked out
without drinking the stout ian unheard-o thing
In that hamlet) she had jumped at the conclu.
sion that we had given her a bad shilling, and
were chuckling over 1t. We appreciated the
situationi and rs we were young In those days
we could not, resist the temptation to start
down the road on a run and SO convince tho
landlady that she had been cheated. Two OF
the men followed us for como distance, ut
they were both heavy-fOoted countrymcn' and
we annp loft than, bohinJ n. -