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Show "SET A THIEF TO CATCH A THIEF." "Set a thief to catch a thief." We don't mean anything disrespectful to Congressmen by quoting this, but there is a little story illustrative thereof, floating around about two members of the present House, both of whom wear loud gold watch chains. They disputed one day as to whose chain was the heaviest (not during the session, and addressing the Speaker, although they do dispute as trivial things that way sometimes). Each one bet ten dollars his chain was the heaviest, and they settled it by weighing the chains in the scales at the House post-office. A few days afterward the winner of the bet was in a jewelry store, when he saw his brother Congressman's chain in a glass case. He remarked that he had seen that chain before, and was told it had been left there to have two extra links put in. "Smelling a rat" he immediately went to a rival jewelers and ordered three extra links to be put in his own chain. Some days passed, and one day he was approached by the other Congressmen, who declared the House post-office scales were imperfect, and believed his chain would be the heaviest "on a fair weight." The former winner pretended to protest that the scales were all right, and let himself be bantered into another bet of $25, to be decided by a jeweler's scales. Of course he won this bet, too. The story got out, and now the other Congressman wears an ordinary watch guard. Perhaps "the boys" gave him the grins worse than he could stand it, on the other one.-Ex. |
