Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1856-04-30
THE BEST COAT AND THE
WORKING COAT

1 y y
in your wardrobe one coat which with a GER
tain respect you honor with the appellation
of your holiday coat. You are also provided,
l do not doubt it, with more modest gar
ment that you disdainfully enough designate
as your working coat. With how much care
you surround the first, with what delicate
attention you handle it, avoiding tumbling
or putting it in contact with the least dusty
object
You have no furniture which shuts too
close to serve as shelter to it, and not con-
tent with putting it at the bottom of the
drawer you surround it carefully with ram
part of napkins, modest drapery, that the
profane hands of your chambermaid will not
be permitted to open.
To save this coat from the smallest sprinkle
of rain you will give up party of pleasure,
SO much do you dread to destroy by spot
the brilliant uniformity of its lustre. 1t
knows life only on the bright side, the wealth
er for this favored garment is etenally fine,
the sky serene, the air balmy. ...r,
If it goes out in the day time, it is to en-
joy the sun, in the evening to be bathed in
floods Of light, and if it should happen to
wander in clear moonlight softly twinkling
through verdant foliage, it is to be present
at some confidential and tender conversation.
Always in company with an immaculate
vest, and luxuriant pantaloons, the best coat
has nothing to fear from dangerous neigh
borhood, velvet and silk alone approach it,
and often it sighs at the touch of perfumed
glove to which its sleeve gives support
If it sometimes leans upon an elbow, it is on
ly on the arm of a tete-a-tete chair or on the
soft cushions of carriage.
All the comforts, all the honors, all the
joys belong to this favored garment. Breath
ing life of pleasure through every seam; it
knows neither poverty nor labor; but it can
give you the most minute details of all the
incidents of a walk, party, soiree, ball,
especially the latter. Was it not under cover
of its agis that you addressed Madame B.,
or you danced with Madame X.
Alas, how different is the fate of the
Working Coat
Having no known domicile, it is always
in state of vagabondage. Sometimes on
chair, in positions to give it the most incredi-
bic wrinkles, sometimes on a table, often in
corner, it is a rarity for it to pass a night
on nail. As to resting well folded in a
portmanteau, it is date in its life never
known.
And if this coat has the misfortune to live
in the atmosphere of a newspaper office, how
much darker even is its existence! Fed with
indigestible ailments, it has more than once
happened to il, unhappy thing, to drink from
the over-hlled angry pen. 1t leans painfully
upon its elbows, going from politics to the
fouilleton, from facts to advertisements. 1t
has, however, the consolation, (misfortunes
sometimes prove blessings,) to enjoy pro-
found sleep, for often its bed is formed of the
papers which occupied its day.
Early at work, the working coat dries the
dust left upon your secretary by lazy pen.
1t is never brushed: it is enough to dust it,
and by refinement of cruelty, they beat it
to drive off the dirt it has been compelled to
collect. "a ...
If it becomes shining, it is owing to the
absence of its nap, and like bare head, the
trials it has gone through are seen on its
sleeves. 1t is not for this that you consult
your barometer, for it never goes out. 1t
knows not what it is to breathe the fresh air,
and if sometimes ray of sun comes furtively
to caress it, you quickly draw your curtain TO
exclude it, under the pretence that the rays
trouble you. e &. riu4 siI -
Never has it felt upon its sleeves a soft
and white hand; the rough fingers Of the