CHAPTEE XXXI.

"UP THE SPOUT" —PAWN-BROKERS AND THEIR WAYS—A
VISIT TO THE SHOP OF "MY UNCLE" —PERSONAL EXPE¬
RIENCES.

" My Uncle " — A Cold-Blooded Friendship — Royal Pawners — Buried Treas¬
ure— A Sharp Lot — Slang of the Trade — Putting a Watch "in Soak"—
The Three Gold Balls of the Pawnbroker's Sign — An Anxious Customer
—A Cautious .Tradesman — How a Sharper Got the Better of his '' Uncle "
— The "Oifice" — A Heart-Hardening Trade — Making a Raise — How I
Pawned my Watch — A Friend in Need — Simon's Indignation — A Sud¬
den Fall in Values—Suspected of Knavery — Pawning Stolen Goods —
Police Regulations — Selling Unredeemed Pledges —What the '' Spout" is
—"Hanging Up"—One Way of Selling Goods — Fraudulent Pawning —
Tales that Pledges Might Unfold — From AiHuence to the Potter's Field —
Drink the Mainspring of the Pawnbroker's Success.

IF the history of every human life could be told, what surpris¬
ing revelations would be made. If a list was published of
the thousands of men and women who have at one time or
other in their lives sought acquaintance Y'ith that interesting
individual the pawnbroker, sometimes known as " My Uncle,"
names now high in the social, political, and business Y'oiids
would be found in it, and society Y'ould stand aghast. Few
there are Y'ho are willing to admit the fact that " my uncle "
once stood to them in the relation of a " friend" in time of sore
distress, though it must be confessed .that his friendship Y'as
purely cold-blooded and measured solely by " per shent" and
"peezeness." It is a constant tendency of human nature to
kick over the ladder that has helped us up Y'ard—to ignore the
plank that has bridged a disagreeable stream.

Occasionally a person in the high tide of prosperity is will¬
ing to admit that the paY'nbroker once npon a time rendered
valuable assistance to him. A Y'idely known and prosperous
actor, now blessed Y'ith an ample fortune, in writing the remi-

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