The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-24

street"
 What on earth does this meanY' I calculated, after l had twice read over the extraordinary announcement.
 Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in high , spirits. Tt is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?' said he. And now, MT. ' Wilson, off you go at scratch, and tell l us all about yourself, your household | and the effect which this advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make note, doctor, of the paper and the date"
 Tt is The Morning Chronicle, of April 27, 1890 Just two months ago." Very good. Now, AiA. Wilson," l Well, it is just as l Nave been telling you, MT. Sherlock Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, moping his forehead; T have a ] small pawnbroker's business at Coburg | square, near the city. Its not a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than just give me a living. used to be able to keep two assistants | but now l only keep one; and 1 would | have job to pay him, but that he is will ing to come for half wages, so as to learn the business"
 | What is the name of this obliging | youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
 His name is Vincent Spaulding, and | he's not such a youth. either. It's hard | to say his age. l should not wish smart CT assistant, Mir. Holmes; and 1 know very well that he could better himself and earn twice what l am able to give | him. But after all if he Is satisfied why should 1 put ideas in his head?'' | Why, indeed? You seem most fc>tunate | in having an employee who comes under
 the full market price. It is not com | mon experience among employers in this age l don't know that your assistant is not as remarkable as your advertise | ment."
 "Oh, he has his faults, too" said MT. | Wilson. Never was such a fellow for | photography. Shaping away with cam- | era when he ought to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the 1 cellar like rabbit into its hole to de- velop his pictures. That is his main fault, | but on the whole he's a good worker. 1 There's no vice in him."
 | "He is still with you, l presume?" | Yes, sir. He and a girl of IA, who does | bit of simple cooking and keeps the l place clean-that's all l have in the house | for I am a widower, and never had any 1 family. We live very quietly, sir, the three i of us; and we keep roof over our heads and pay our debts, if we do nothing 1 more.
 .The first thing that put us out was | that advertisement. Spaulding, he came down into the office jast this day eight weeks, with this very paper in his hand, I
 " wish to the Lord, MT. Wilson, that ] I was a red-headed man.
 Whats that? I asks.
 l Why, says he, here's another vacancy on the League of the Red-headed Men. | It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets it, and 1 understand that | there are more vacancies than there are men, so that the trustees are at their | wits end what to do with the money. If
 my hair would only change color, here s | a nice little crib all ready for me to i, step into.'
 ".Why, what is it, thenY I asked. You see, MT. Holmes l am a very stay-at- home man, and my business came to me instead of me going to it, l was often weeks on end without putting my foot over the door-mat. In that way l didn know much of what was going on out side, and l was always glad of bit of l news.
 Have you never heard of the League of the Redheaded Mem? he asked, with his eyes open.
 | Never
 "Why, I wonder at that, for you are | eligible yourself for one of the vacancies
 = And what are they worth?' l asked.
 "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, and 1t need not interfere very much with ones other occupations.
 ] Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, for the bus mess has not been over-good for some years, and an extra couple of hundred would have been very handy.
 |" Tell me all about it. said l. | Well said he, showing me the ad- vertisement,. you can see for yourself that the League has vacancy, and there is the address where you should apply for particulars. As far as 1 can make out, the League was founded by an Amer ican millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed, and he had great sympathy for all red-headed men; so when he died it was found that he had | left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of that color. From all I hear it is splendid pay, and very lit- tie to do.'
 But said I, there would be millions of red-headed men who would apply
 Not so many as you might think he answered You see, it is really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the old town a good turn. Then, again, l have heard it is no use your applying If your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but real bright, blazing fiery | red. Now, if you cared to apply, MT. Wilson, you would just walk in; but per- haps 1t would hardly be worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of few hundred pounds | Now it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter, l stood as good a chance as any man that l had ever met. Vincent Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that thought he might prove useful, so just ordered him to put up the shutters for the day, and to come right away with me. He was very willing to have holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for i the address that was given us in the ad- | vertisement.
 1 T never hope to see such a sight as that again, MT. Holmes From north, south, east and west, every man who 1 had a shade of red in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the ad- yertisement. Fleet street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court | looked like coster's orange barrow should not have thought there were so many in the whole country as were brought together by that single adver- tisement. Every shade of color they were-straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real vivid fame-colored tint. When I saw how many were waiting I would have given it up in despair, but Spaulding would not hear of it. How he did it could not imagine, but he pushed and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up to the steps which led to the office. There was a