The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-04-13
THETRIAlyS SMUGGLIN(GI,1
!: ORDISPOSING OF AN ELEPHANT.
;sons Of Fortune Made in Silk Of Customs Dues Dspeled
tf.or,srjsh.. 1857 by Robert Howard

!. tcopywrish:. 1882, by Robert Howard ward
Russell
i Should your curiosity invite IT. ana Inc
more .;,nce I promised sou the story.
s. NO will now, my children, go about Inc
ground silk it IS not calculated TO
foster The pride of al, old man TO plunge
q into a relation OF dubious doings OF his
s. youth. Ard vet. as ] look backward on
$ that enc of smuggling of which was
guilty, so f;.r as motive Was involved, 1
s.Sonc-itc msself..sI looked on the gov
eminent, because of the Souths conquest
br tho North, and later ruin of myself
ihrous. the Vaccinations OF The Revenue
.5,Iics, us both q political and personal
s zoe: And j felt, not alone morally free.
But was in,rcIled besides in what deemed
& spirit OF justice to myself, to wage war
against 1t as best / might. It was on
such argument, where the chance prot
Tered that sought wealth as a sn:uSglcr
would deplcte the EoSernment-forase
as it we're on an 5c.cny--tkerchy to fatten
my purse. OF course, as my hair has
whitcned with the sitting frosts Of Years.
4 confess that my sephfstrics Of smugs-
ling seem less and less plausible, while
smuggling itself loses whatever romantic
glamour it may have been invested with
or what little color OF respect to which It
might seem able to lay claim.
This tale shall be told in simplest
periods. That is as should be; for ex>
preston Should ever be meek and sub
jugated when ones story is the mere
story of Il cheat. There is scant room in
such recital for heroic phrase. Smuggling
and paint It with what genius one may
can be nothing save a skulking, hiding.
5ear-eaten trade. There is nothing about
st of bravery or dash. How. therefore.
nd 11-p hf,cy< ct oil
In any telling OF its ignoble details?
When. following my unfortunate crash
in tobacco. I had cleared sway the last
fragment of tho confusion that Teigncd
In my affairs I was drfven,lto give my
nerves a respite and seek a rest. For
three months had been under sevcrest
stress. When the. funeral was done
FOR funeral it seemed to me-and my
tobacco enterprise and those hopes it had
go fattened were forever laid at rest. my
nerves sank exhausted and my brain was
in n whil'l. LIQUID neither think with
ciearncss mar plan with accuracy. Moro
over, ] was prey to that depression and
Jack OF confidence i'll myself. which come
inevitably as the coroliary of utter weari-
less.
Aware Of this personal condition. put
aside thought of any present formulation
of a future. ] would rest, recover poise
and win back TINT optimism that belongs
with health land youth. This was wis
dom; was jaded beyond belief: and IA
tisue means detection, and de3ection spells
pessimism, and pessimism is never saga
cious or excellent III any of its pro-
Grammes.
For that rawness Of the nerves speak
of. many apply themselves to drink: some
rush TO drugs for myself, take TO mu-
sic. Tt was mid-winter and grand opera
was here. This was fortunate ] buried
myself in a box, and opened the very
pores Of my ears to those .nerve-healthfui
harmones. IN a week thereafter, might
call myself recovered. My scul was cool,
my eye bright my mind clear and sensi-
bly, elate. Life and its promises seemed
nightly refreshed.
No one has ever called me superstitious
and yet to begin my ceurse--chartins for
a now career, I harlsed back to the ORA
Astor House. 1t was there that brilnant
thought cf tobacco overlook me two years
before. Perhaps an inspiration was to
dwell in an environment. Again regis
tered. and finding it tenantless, took over
again my old room.
Still cannot say and it is to that hos
tclry's credit, that my domicile at the
-Astor aided me to my smuggling resolves.
Those last had growth somewhat in this
Fashion: L had dawdled for two hours
over coffee in the cafe-the room and the
employment which had one-time brought
me fortune-but was incapable of any
thought Of value. ] could decide on MOTH
ing good. Indeed, did nothing but men
tally curse those Washington revenue mis-
Q crcants who failing to blackniail me into
partnership had destroyed me for re-
Nenge.
Whatever comfort may Turk in curses,
at least they carry no money profit; so
after a fruitless session over coffee and
maaedictiolls. arose. and as "a calmative
walked down Broadway At Trinity
churcllyard, the gates being open, turned
in and began ramblingiy to Irvine and
twist among the graves. There I encoun-
tered a carrulous old man. who, for his
own pleasure, evidently. devoted himself
10 my information. He pointed out the
grave of Fulton. he of the steamboats,;
then was shown the tomb of that Law
renne who would never give up the
ship; from there I was carried to the
last low bed of the love-wrecked beautiful
Charlotte Temple.
Ny eye at last. by the alluring voice
and finger of tho old guide, was drawn
10 spot under Ithc tower where sleeps
The Lady Cornbury. dead now as tell
this, hardly. two hundred years. Also
was told of that Lord Corrbury, her hus-
band once governor Of The colony for his
relative, Queen Anne; and how he be-
came so much more efficient as SNUG
gicr and a customs cheat, than ever he
WAS as an executive, that he lost IN lt0S
his high employment.
Because had nothing more worthy to
occupy my leisure, listened-somcwhat
sistlcssly. promise You. for after all
was thinking of the future, not the past,
and considering Of the young rather than
those old dead folk, obscure, forgotten III
their slim g1avcs-I listened, say, word
iessly to my gray historian and some
aow. after ] was free of him. the one
1hinr that remained alive In my memory
was the smuggling story of our sNiscount
Cornbul..
& Among those few acquaintance which
j had formed during my brief prosperity
was a gentleman named Harris, who hao
owned apartments under mine on twenty
second Street. Harris was elegant. edu-
Gated. Travelled and apparently well-to-do
IN riches. Busy with my own mounting