Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1909-03-18
A SiIhouette--The Curious Man.

A Silhouette--TheC Curious Man.
The curious man is a habitant Of every
village and has one attribute of divinity
where two or three are gathered to-
gether, there he is in the midst of them.
Let couple of friends or enemies meet
on a street corner and begin an earnest
conversation, in three minutes he drops
down out of the clouds, pops up through
he ground or is waited through the air so
close to their elbows that they are first
made aware Of his presence by accidental
ly hitting him in a slight change of
position. Their startled glances and
frowns of annoyance he encounters with
an amiable grin and a disarming remark
about the weather. But he has such an
interested look and fingers so deter
minedly by their side, that there is
nothing for it but to separate, each going
his own way and carrying an uneasy
wonder as to how long the fellow has
stood within earsbot and how much of
the talk he has managed to absorb.
Whenever he fails to approach upper
ceiyed or is conscious that his proximity
will cause an abrupt change of CONVEX
sation be strolls by group leisurely and
from word or two let fall by some IN
prudent speaker he obtains-a clue to the
matter under discussion. A clue is all
he needs to unravel any mystery in the
fcorporation; for he is master hand at
putting two and two together and max
ing a good deal more than four out of it.
1t will not do to describe personally the
curious man, for this is a silhouette and
not cabinet photograph; so suffice it to
say that he has sharp ears, sharp nose,
sharp ferret eyes, as restless ss a weasel's,
and behind them q small but amazingly
active brain. Luck always attends him
and he is sure to be around when you
slip and fall into several inches Of spring
slush on South Main street hill. and his
ears are never deaf to the few words from
the Psalms that you quote while scraping
the unsightly roadway accumulation
4 from your best clothes.
Sometimes his powers OF observation
/ and deduction therefrom seem positively
uncanny. Does the doctor hitch his
I horse ct your door The curious man
times him and the length of the call
I determines the seriousness OF the case.
Then he runs over the family in his
mind and remembers having seen every
one out but grandma; 50, of course, she
/ is the ailing one. Then be casually in,
/ tercepts the doctor rs he is driving away
"Otd Lady Dow much sick7''-"No. Just
little grippy." Thought 50 when you
/ didn't stay any longer"
He knows whether you were extrava
giant enough to eat eggs at 40 cents 9
dozen or so frugal that you haven't had
an egg in the house all winter-ever
though you have tried to conceal thai
fact. The grocer or butcher never car.
ries parcel into your side door that hs
doesn't give an accurate guess at its con
tents and he can tell bag of eggs from &
bag of prunes at so rods.
; He knows to a cent how much you arr
worth and who holds the mortgage on
/ your house, for all you may talk largely
about putting on more bay windows. He
knows that your last hired girl went
away because she didn't like the board
and couldn't get her wages and not, as
/ you gave out to the public, because hel
folks needed her at home. He knows
that your wife doesn't do her own wash.
ings because she is so particular that she
will not trust the things to q laundress.
! In fact, IL people realized the extent
and thoroughness OF his information re-
/ garding them, they might well have an
uneasy suspicion that at the day OF judg
ment, when the secrets OF all hearts shall
be revealed, nothing probably will b
brought to light at ell new to the curious
man.