The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-11-21
ASSAY OFFICE TO GO
Tomb of Nuptial Rings to Make
Way for Progress.
Colonel Murray Tells Of Visitors Bear.
ing Heirlooms to Be Melted into
Ruiiion-Is Landmark
of Wall Street.

Of Wall Street.
New York.-A home of tragedy and
high hope is going the way of all
places that have outlived their day.
The United States assay Office, after
80 years in Wall street, has to make
way for the onward march of modern
ity.
The doors that have swung open to
admit the gray visaged stranger with
the shadowy eyes or the buoyant
stranger with the eager smile will be
closed forever.
Col John A. Murray, for so years
the good genius of the picturesque old
building, with its air of ancient Greece.
is always eloquent on the romances
caught in the cobwebs Of it's rumbling
walls.
Tell me about the women that pass
it's portals l begged the colonel.
Never mind the men"
The jovial laugh of Superintendent
Murray Jared the sensitive scales in
the weighing room.
We'll, they come with everything
from a broken breastpin that belonged
to their great-grandfather to bag of
ore," laughed he of the ready tongue.
Sometimes it's silver soup toureen
and again it is satchel of binnicks."
do they ever bring their mono
grammed wedding silver to be melted
after the court has decided the pres
ents belong to the wife and everything
is over but the alimony?" was asked.
Indeed they do. Not long ago a
man Of wide acquaintance and conSid-
cradle wealth came into the office hug
ging a great canvas sack. He eX-
planned that the plumber represented
the kind thoughts and wishes of his
friends who had been hidden to his
nuptials. He might be displaying the
silver in his own dining room this
very day had not the bride-to-be exer-
cised the womanly prerogative and
changed her mind at the very gate of
matrimony.
Il want this silver made into long
bar, SO | can put i'll on my DESK de-
clared the disgrunted bridegroom. 1T
will keep me from stumbling in love
again, because every time | look at it
l will put on a pair of binders and a
suit of arrow proof armor.'
How about last seasons wedding
rings?' was the next query.
when they are out of commission
we get them and melt the tender senti-
ments inside into oblivion. 1t makes
you realize the eyanescence of human
devotion to see a George to Ellen,
with Eternal Love- going to make up a
common gold brick
One rainy November afternoon a
snappy eyed little woman came into
the office reception room and asked
for the head man She was carrying
a worn leather travelling bag of the old
| fashioned type, and she hung on tC
| it like it was loaded with diamonds.
I'm the head man l assured her
She looked dubious. She was drip
| ping wet and her teeth chartered
| After a half hours argument she con
| fided her secret. The bag contained
| specimens of ore picked up on hel
| farm in Ulster county. She was sure
! the bag contained a new Eldorado. Il
took the assayer another half hour tC
impress upon her that if she had {
mountain like the samples the bes
she could do with it would be to use il
for raising alfalfa
Quite often we have to hand the
| owners anxious to part with wedding
| rings an awful shock. To believe frien'
husband once pried himself loos
from the price of an eighteen cara
golden circlet, only to be told it il
brass disguised under a thin layer @
the precious metal, is enough to mak'
you glad you showed the good TO
nothing the quickest way out.
L will always remember the timi'
little woman with the faded blue eye
and the quaint gown who fiuttered il
one afternoon just before closing time
Out of the frayed yellow lace of he
handkerchief she took a miniature, tn
living likeness of handsome boy il
the uniform of the Cos.
Il want you take away the gol
frame, but be careful of the miniature
It's all have left"
There wasn't enough money in tn
world to make the men hurry wit
that job.
You see, we have the signs with tn
smiles, but they all go to make up
day in the melting pot
Colonel Murray says fifty years ism
such a long time.
Special buffet luncheon so cent
Every day from 1870. to $50 q
Keating's. Everything that's goo