The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-10-12
A Tale Of Two J0kerS.
BY CHARLES ID LEWIS

interest in the firm, and then the sign
read, John H.. Baker" 1t was Just
after this change had taken place that
L WAS made head clerk, and that q
stranger named Charles William
Thompson appeared in the town of
Greendale. Oar business was tina OF
a general store, and Mr.. Baker was
the owner OF u big wooden mill in the
W The rear end of the store, with
an entrance on a side street, was
divided OFF and rented to the govern-
ment as u post Office, and there was u
door communicating from the store.
MIR. Baker had a large safe in the
store, and in this the postmaster kept
his spare funds and stamps. We had
three clerks and a book keeper, and it
was rare that any Of us had an idle
hour.
Mr.. Baker was a Jolly, good-natured
man OF middle age, who dearly loved
q joke. People used to say that his
hearty laugh was as good as a tonic.
Mr.. Thompson arrived in G~reendale
one afternoon to search out some lone ,
lost relatives. He was also jolly anu
go~od-natured and middle-agod. BY
tho laws Of magnetism it was perfectly
natural for the two to come together
and Joke aud laugh. This was Just
what happened. They liked each
other 50 well at first sight that Mr..
Thompson forgot all about his lost re-
~latives, and MIR. Baker lost an hour out
Of the busiest part Of h day. How
ever, as he got ready to leave the store
that evening, he called me into the
private Office and said
"Charles, you saw q Mr.. Thompson
in the store this afternoon? Z"
"Yes, sir"
He's q stranger in town, looking
up some relatives. Very nice man
ha ha ha Tells a very funny story,
and it does me good to hear him laugh.
You heard us laughing, didn't you.
Charles :"
Eyes, sir"
"Yes-um We'll, you may like
Mr.. Thompson, and you may laugh
and also make him laugh, but keep
your eye on him just the same. He's q
very jolly man, but I've got an idea
that he can be very serious on &C.
c~asions. There are times when our
safe holds large sums OF money, and Mr..
Thor. pson may covet those greenbacks.
Laugh with him, my boy, but watch
him at the same time"
MIR. Thompson sOOn began dropping
into the store in an otf-hand way and
making small purchases AS an excuse
to get u general look about and engage
the different clerks in conversation
He appeared to ' take to- me as much
as he did to Mr.. Baker, and TO make q
dead set to win my favorable o Union.
AS n matter of fact, he could heat any
drummer on the Oad telling q story,
and oil his cOnundrums were new and
full Of surprises. But for Mr.. Bakers
words o fcaution should have taken the
man as he evidently wanted me to, and
after a week should not have ted
to seat him alone in the Office. AS it
was, | laughed with him, but kept my
eyes open, and after q few LAYS |
thought his object in dropping into
the store was to get a close look at our
big safe. The safe had a combination
lock set on our letters and charged
every few weeks, and only two Of us
had the word. At that time the WORD
was jose" After "a few days, and
one day soon after Mr.. Thompson had
spent half an hour in the office with
MIR. Baker, the latter called me in tC
ask:
Well, Charles, do you find our MIR
Thompson a very agreeable man 2"
Yes, sir" | replied.
"Tells a very funny story in a very
funny way-ha ha ha Never re
peats himself, and never gets off any
thing old. Makes you laugh, doesn',
he ?'
Eyes, sir"
Eyes, Of course-ha ha ha . How
ever, keep your eyes on him just the
same. | think he comes in here tt
ioOh dG VIC sale, FdIucr IMAM 10 1Oke
and I'm giving him every chance L
inspect it. | think he will invite you
to pass an evening with him pretty
soon, and il so you had better accept
Laugh with him, Charles-laugh a.
hard as you can-but at the same time
be on your guard. The funny MIR
Thompson-ha ha IA
MIR. Thompson had the best room a
he best hotel. 1t came to pass tina
he invited me to spend an evenine
with him, and he had cake and wine
and song and story, and I never en-,
joyed myself better. BY and by, as We
laughed and joked, MIR. Thompson
turned the conversation to orthogra
ply and its blunders, and it came tc
pass that he asked me to write dow
twenty words OF four letters each.
wrote John" Hope" Dash "Biip
and enough others to make up the
twenty, but | did not write Jose
Mr.. Thompson knew that the safe was
set on four letters. In asking me tc
write down twenty words of four letters
each he might reasonably count on my
writing the safe word. 1 might have
done SO, except for Mr.. Bakers eau.
tion.
Eyes, Charles, he was after the
word-ha! ha hap laughed my EN-
ployer next day when | related the
incident. "Mr. Thompson is a vcry
> funny man, but l think we are funnier
than he is. Feeling quite sure that
one of the twenty words is the word he
Is after, his next move will be TO get
into the store some night and make
try for the contents OF the safe. We
must laugh, Charles-we must keep
right on laughing with the funny Mr..
Thompson-but we must also keel
right on watching him-ha ha ha t'
Our general custom was to keep the
store open until nine o'clock at night,
and the post Office also held to that
nour. MIR. Baker was the first to leave.
Then the bookkeeper would go, and he
would be ollowed by the clerks, and
1T was my duty to hang on until about
half-past nine and set things to rights
before leaving. BY and by, towards
the last OF the month, the funny Mr.,
Thompson began dropping in about
nine, SO as TO be the last man to 90.
On two evenings he detained me TIL
ten o'clock telling stories, and as |
began to get suspicious of his inten.
tions, [ sought advice OF MIR. Baker.
"Ah that funny Mr.. Thompson
ha ha ha! laughed my employer.
as he leaned back and rubbed his
hands. ellis time is drawing very
near. As near AS l can figure it his
game will be this On the niobt NJ