The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-01-23

methods Of thought he was the ncatesi
and most mcthOdical Of mankind. and
although also he affected q certain
quiet prfmness Of dress. he was none
the less in his personal habits one Of
the most untidy men that ever drove
a fcIloW-lOdgcr to distraction. Not
that am in the least conventional in
that respect myself. The rough-and-
tumble work in A~fghauistan. coming
on the top Of a natural BOhemianisnl
Of disposition, has made me rather
more lax than BELTS q medical nan.
But with me there is a limit. n when
! find a man who keeps his icgars in
the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe
end Of d Persian slipper, and his un-
answered correspondence tranSllXed by
a jack-knife into the very centre Of
his mantelpiece, then / begin
to give myself VirtuOus airs. l have
aIWasy held. too, that pistol practice
should be distinctly an Opcn-air pas
time; and hen Holmes. in one Of
his queer humors, would sit in an
armchair with his hair-trigger and a
hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed
to adOrn the opposite wall with a pa
triotic V. r. lone in bullet-pocks, |
felt strongly that neither the atmos-
phere nor the appearance Of our room
was improved by it.
our chambers were always full Of
chemiaCl and Of criminal relics which
had a way of wandering into unlikely
positions, and Of turning up in the but
tcr-dish or in ever less desirable
places. But his papers were my great
cruX. He had a horror of destroying
documents, especially those which
were connected with his past cases,
and yet it was only OCe in every year
OrtWO that he would muster energy to
docket and arrange them; for. as |
have mentioned somewhere in these
i,anl,arI,t ,,,at,,afp- tho n,rtIr, = Of
passionate energy when he performed
the remarkable feats with which his
name is associated were followed by
reactions of Iethargy during which he
would lie about will his violin and his
books, hardly moving save from the
sofa to the table. Thus month after
month his papers accumulated, until
with bundles of manuscript which
were on no account to be burned,
and which could not be put away save
by their owned. one winters night
as we sat together by the fire, | VEN
turcd to suggest to him that. as he
had finished pasting extracts into his
commonplace book, he might employ
the next two hours in making our
room a little more habitable. He could
not deny the justice of my request, so
With IA rather rueful face he went
off to his bedroom, from which he
returned presently, pulling a large
tin box behind him.. This he placed
in the middle of the floor. and, squat
ting down upOn q stool in front of it,
he threw back the lid, | could see
that it was already a third full of
bundles of papers tied up with red
tape into separate packages.
"There are cases enough here, Wat
SON." said he. looking at me with
mischieVous eyes. Il think that if
you knew all that | had in this box
you would ask me to pull some out
instead of putting others in
"These are the records of your early
work. hem" I asked 81 have often
wished that | had notes of those
cases.
yes, my boy. these were all done +,
prematurely before my biographer
and come to gIorify me-" He lifted
bundle after bundle in a tender. ca
rcssing sort of way. "Thcy are not all
successes. Watson,' said he. But
there are some pretty little problems !
among them. Here's the record Of the
TarltOn murders. n the case of
Namberry, the vine merchant, anG
the adventure of the old Russian wO-
man, and the singular affair of the
aluminium crutch, as We'll as a full
account of Iticolctti of the %club-foot. |
and his abominable wife. And here
ah, L Y, this really is something a
niue lcClGGcnc.
He dived his arm down to the bot
tom of the chest, and brought up a
wooden box with a sliding lid.
Such as children's toys are kept in.
From within he produced a crumpled
piece of paper, an Old-fashiOned brass
key, a peg of wood with a ball of
string attached to it, and three rusty
old disks of metal.
"WelI, my boy, what dc you make
of this lot?' he asked, smiling at
my expression.
1T is a curious cOlIcctiOn."
VERY curious, and the story that
hangs round it will strike you as be-
ms more curious still"
These relics have a history. thcn?"
SO much 50 hat they are history"
What do mean by that?"
Sherlock Holmes picked them I'D
one by one, and laid them along the |
himself in his chair and looked them
over with a CLEAN of satisfaction in
his eyes.
"These," said he, are all that
have left TO remind me of the adven-
ture of the Musgrave Ritual"
had heard him mention the case
more than once, though had never
been able to gather the details. Il
should be 50 glad said !. "if YOU
would give me an account of it"
And leave the litter as it is?" he
cried, mischievously. "Your tidiness
won't bear must strain after all. Wat
son. But | should be glad that Won
should add this to your annals. for
there are points in it which make
It quite unique in the criminal rec
ords of this, or, [ believe, of any
other country. \ collection Of my
tritilng achievements would certainly
incomplete which contained no ac-
count of this very singular business.
You may remember how the affair
of the Gloria Scott and my conversa-
ton with the unhappy man whose
fate | told you of. first turned my at
t"ntion i'll the direction Of the profess
sion which has become my life's work.
) on see me now when my name has
become known far and wide, and
hen [ am generally recognized both
the public and by the official force
as being a final court of appeal in
doubtful cases. Even when you knew
T." first lat the time of the affair
Y liCh you have cOmmemorated in "A
j. Scarlet | had already established
r considerable, though not a very
lucrative. connection. You can hardly
realize, then. how difficult | found it
at first, and how long l had to wait