The Indianapolis journal., 1897-04-11
ANCESTRYOF OUR UNCLE
1T IS GENERALLY BELIEVED THAT
HIS ORIGIN Is PREHISTORIC.
But Here His beginnings are Fixed I'm
LOmbardy i'm COmpa ra lively Re-
cent Times-Usefu1 Person.

| a friend-a good but a foolish fellow-had
to go around the corner the other day to see
my uncle. He told me about IT, and the
event put into my head the desire to tell
you something about my relative. Many
| years ago. when the centuries were just in
their teens. the richest family in all Lom-
bardy was Medici One of the Medici had
daughter named Venus. who dressed i'm
bushes and dimpIes-nothing more-or else
Venus was a goddess in marble found
somewhere-possibly near Tivoi, in eleven
pieces. and for a time owned by the Medic
family. The Medci had something to do
with her. anyhow. One of the Medici boys
was in the habit OF running about town
with three heavy golden balls hanging from
a leathern thong in his hand, and with these
he would crack the pate or split the shield
OF any young buck who opposed him. The
Medici family became proud of the young
ster, and adopted as their armorial crest
| three gilt balls
The Medici all grew rich. and the princes
who lived next door. becoming little short
OF cash. borrowed from their neighbor. Mr.
Medici, leaving as security their plate and
! diamonds. When these valuables were re-
deemed Mr. Medici required a small per-
| centage of the cash for his trouble Other
princes, also starving financially paid Mr.
Medici call. and soon throughout the
Whoie town. throughout all of Italy the
Nedici became known as money lenders
lheir little percentages were little no
longer. Folks then called them usurers
some Oh them went to Paris and founded
| the Rue de Lombard; others went to Lon
don. and Lombard street in that CITY still
| knows their descendants who also named
one ef our downtown highways All of
| them. however
| tie three golden balls and, as an emblem
OF their trade. hung in front of their little
too dear. The Lombard merchants as they
were then called. branched out into all
countries, and fifty years ago one of them
| 1ung the three gilt balls to the breeze i'm a
| street OF Philadelphia. He made money and
| elevated three more balls in front of anoth-
er store. He made more money and opened
| Two more offices. His three brothers envied
| his luck. and all of them opened shops
| seven shops, twenty-one gilt balls all with
other men came into the business, but
nearly all were descendants of the original
| LOmbardS.
MONEY IN IT
My uncle thought there was money in ii.
He opened a pawnshop. The shop is down
town. Through the dirty window panes a
full score of hardened looking silver
watches look anything but happy Huge
clusters of brilliants that might be dia-
monds. but are not; decrepit-looking case
of surgical instruments that must surely
| have belonged to a seedy looking student
three or four formidable looking revolvers
of all shapes. sizes and ages, and a baby's
shoe of blue completes the gorgeous array
| that tries to brighten up the window but
fails most mlserably. My uncle. obedient to
the call of a sharp-voiced bell comes from
behind % green-curtained wire grating He
is not handsome man. He could scarcely
be called philanthropical looking. He never
| boasts Of his looks. so they may be passed
| by. His stock in trade is rather peculiar
| 1T Is put up in bundles of all sizes and
| various shapes and slowed away on capa-
cious shelves What liberal patronage of
the press my uncle must be. Every article
| in his shop has newspaper for its cover
ing; he scorns manila wrappers They cost
| cash Wait a minute; he has a customer.
She is dressed neatly. but she must be very
| poor. What do you think she has? My uncle
never bushes. If frilled and flounced less a
man would call it shirt.
| My grashus. you vud rob me. / am not
Rothschild. Yes, yes, you will come back.
| Dat is mebbe so, but / run no risk. i gif
you fifdeen cents" 1t is my uncle who is
talking. The woman takes the money. My
uncle takes the pledge" brings out an
other newspaper and slows it away. Eight
months from now-the law fixes the limit
my uncle will have an auction sale, and
somebody Will buy the poor woman's gar
ment for. of course. though she intended
to. she never redeemed it, and my uncle
will get his fifteen cents back trebled in
| size.
| My, N.Y. said the good old man yester-
day. times very bad. You dink. den. I
make de more? All, no: vaunts the bar
ties to come back and pay me de interest
| Dere is de brofit. De interest. Ah my son
(he never calls me nephew, the interest
counts up very fast; but times are so hard,
beoples let de eight months go by and the
auction don't pay so well. haf none of the
rich customers. De poor beoples-ah. how
| / pity dem-come to me- and / haf to sell
at auction and lose all of mine brofits. Here
comes another of dose poor peoples" When
out toF of my ynce TnSs Sh0p ne Tas
vud rob me-" He wouldn't rob a soul so
| help me grashus.
A BENEFACTOR.
My uncle has distant relative. who lives
somewhat farther up town. He. too, de-
scends from the old Lombards, but lew
drops of the ancient Medici blood must still
trickle through his veins, for he is totally
unlike my uncle. The three gilded balls
hang before his door, but you don't see
blear-eyed, barefooted children tremblingy
lifting the latch. He positively refuses to
traffic in their ills. He, too, has capacious
shelves burdened with bundles, but in a
far corner an immense fire-proOf contain
| ing hundreds of drawers is filled with
| precious treasures. He talks to you about
his business in business-like way. Hard
| times affects they do other men. You
may think they would prove our harvest
season, but you are mistaken. Our business
is of the highest grade. and the percentage
of articles redeemed is about the same in
| all seasons. About 80 per cent. of our
| pledges redeemed Our profits are in the
| redemption. Goods sold at auction rarely
| bring what they cost, together with the ac-
| crued interest. Clothing must be sold with
| out reserve. 1t will not do TO keep ii. II gets
| out of fashion. If an article is redeemed
| in all probability it will come back TO US
| again. and thus is a continual source of
! income. But though our percentage is about
| the same. are not doing much business
| This may be accounted for by the fact that
| a considerable portion of our customers are
| young men paid monthly salaries, who,
| after a nights carousing. come to us. leave
their watches and replenish their purses.
| During these hard times. perhaps, carousals
| are not so frequent, and our usefulness to
| this class of persons passes away. Our list
| of customers embraces people in every oc-
| cupation of life. i would surprise you if
| mentioned some of their names.
| This morning an honorable judge paid
4 me a visit. and left behind him a family
treasure. He was temporarily embarrassed
| and wished no one to know ii. We betray
| no secrets. Why, some of the most re-
| spected families Spruce and Walnut
| streets visit us. Old ladies' depending upon
| annuities to support them. bring their sill
| Yer that has remained in the family genera
| ton after generation. When their annui-
| ties are paid the family treasures are taken
| home again These our regular custom
tIar yx-ix- uyh ara al n,x-oI