However, it was no part of my duty
to advise the other side, so I set to work to get up my case (as I
invariably do) _con amore_. I hunted up all the causes in the Digest,
that seemed to be on all-fours with the matter in dispute, and spent
days in the Public Library of the Patent Office searching for patents
having to do with table-napkins. As the specifications were not
consecutively published, I had to wade through a large number of these
interesting documents that treated of other subjects. For instance,
the first specification I would take out of the box in which it was
kept, would perhaps have to do with house-raising without disturbance
to the foundations, the second would prove to be an article half
umbrella, half revolver, while in the third I would perhaps find an
extremely quaint notion for a portable pocket corkscrew. I myself
picked up many ideas for future use, and hope some day, if I do
nothing else, at least to perfect a clever little contrivance of
my own for arousing the inmates of a house invaded by burglars
by casement concussions. I propose calling this valuable little
instrument (which is founded to some extent on the simple construction
by which the figures in a child's box of wooden soldiers are enabled
to advance and retire in a scissors-like fashion), when produced, the
Policeman's Upper Floor Window Tapper.
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