The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1868-09-05

| WORD, thls Is not so bad, he said.
81 should hope not, archly said the young
lady who had acted as hosteness in this, to Jack,
most unusual restaurant. We make it ourselves,
and our patrons are very particular"
1t WAS fun alive and jack having daled
over bis soup as long as he could, aud said all
manner of pleasant things ten dollars worth },
took his leave at last with grace and politeness
which a reduced millionaire could not have ex-
ceeded. Even such men do come where soup is
doled out in charity, and they pride themselves
en- showing their breeding to the only members
of their former class whom they ever meet. IL is
a woful, thangeful world. Jack had no right to
| be idle in it, his conscience began to admonsh
| him. But who was there, in all the world, to set
| him to work ?
After his dinner pipe, and, with the pipe,
ruminaton. Was there something prophetic i'll
| the smoke voice which seemed to saw as to
Macbeth, "Sleep" 10 Jack, ''Smoke no more r'
At the dinner table he had amused the party This
home was n boarding-house), with the narrative
OF his mornings walk. And the landlady IS
daughter internally resol' ing to turn soup-al-
moner herself, had rallied him numerically up
on the glowing account which he gave Of the
soup-house ladies. AS he smoked and cogitaied,
his thoughts took shape, and he said to himself,
Upon my faith, that lesser one acdS beautiful,
and they may laugh as they please"
Jack wouid have sailed out to The soup-house
again that very afternoon but he happened to
remember that soup-houses which serve the poor,
like banks which accommodate the rich are clos
ed in the afternoon. And, at the same time,
there came suspicion into his mind that he was
almost a fool. So he concluded TO sleep on it,
Bachelor Jack was astir bemes the next day,
like man with an object in life After his morn
ing cigar he shaved and went down to Third
Street like man of business he went to the IL
brary like man of letters he walked to the
post-offce like man OF correspondence he
stood on the Steps of the Continental like man
of fashion he did all sorts of things to make
himself believe he was somebody. The truth was
lie was only moth, and the light which attract
ed him was in the soup-house. So, after flights
and counter flights in devious circles, he struck
straight for the gratis hotel, pretending that it
lay in the shortest route to his home.
The house was there, but the light was out
The soup smet rs savory as ever, but the place
did not look 81 tempting There were two ladies
there, a. on the day before but the number WAS
the only point OF resemblance. For, whereas yes
terday's ladies were young, to-day's were-we
must not say old, but we cannot, in conscience
say young. The ladies OF to-day were jnst as
charitable, aud their soup, we have no doubt,
WAS better. There are some advantages in years
as to experience. And to make good soup re-
qures practice Jack looked round the apart
He was in for it but he only presented five dol
lars to-dny--the stingy fellow "Would he
taste the soup?' Of course he would not. He
did yesterday, but circumstances altar cases You
can take from IIe6e what you decline from FIebe's
grandmother. Jack did not like TO be entirely
defeated he talked enough to introduce casual
inquiry, not too pointed, for ''the lady who was
here yesterday 2"
"Did be mean Mrs. Jones, or Miss Smith
"Miss Smith," said Jack. He knew the name
Of neither, and answered Mss for his hopes sake
"They will not be here, In their regular turns,
for week. But either may drop in to-day.
Shall give any message TO Miss Smith p
Message, indeed The absurdity Of the situa-
ton made Jack almost laugh outright. ''Oh,
no." he said 81 will call at her house"
Oh, man man what lie you were acting
Yes, and speaking, too For you did not know
of what individual in the legion of John Smiths
she was the daughter. You did not know wheth-
er it was Mss Smith or Mrs. Jones who had en-
tranced you. Jack walked out, half laughing,
and half vexed, aud home to dinner. He did not
say soup-house once to-day at the table. And he
pretended not to hear, or, if he heard not to un
derstand, the innuendoes in which the landl,-
dys daughter persisted But he resolved within
himself 81 will find her out if it takes me all
winter"
se here t, hdes desdrbe w eaatS hsr bdm s ~ We M
much we viii reveal, that he made the marble
dust boy his agent and detective. The bright
little rogue, who found Bachelor Jack 5 acquan
tance the most profitable connection he had
ever made in his life, served his patron faithfully.
Neither, having spent so much time in the pre-
lminaries, can we describe step py step the ap- |
proaches to the catastrophe 1t came in the earl'
summer, when charitable committees were no |
longer in season, and the ladies had leisure to
A f,rp ;t,tro arcH
morning before Jacks late residence, and that |
same sharp boy acted as his lieutenant, while !
Jack saperinttnded the transfer OF his movables |
They were destined to fill one room his library, |
in house which he had taken well up town in
L--Street, which one room he intended to
call memorial apartment, Bachelors Hail." |
guess he has been invited out of that before this
time
But it was not Miss Smith, and it ,cas Mrs.
Jones, a charming widow, who had taken jacks s
head Bachelor no more, he is all the better
for the change. Once the time hung heavy on
his hands now, the days are not long enough.
He has destroyed his old last will and testament
and has not found time, or loves life too well, to
write another. 1t is just well. The law makes
O better distribution than most men would by
testament and codicil.
The landady's daughter heaved "a long, long
sigh as she looked into the dismantled room on
the day of Jacks departure. Whether it was
sigh of YOUTH depends upon your idea OF that
state; whether it was sigh of love, is an open
question. Her reverie was broken by the marble
dust boy, who dashed in, and, gathering heap
of tobacco pipes which Jack had been ashamed
to take away, slowed them in various places on
his person. '!Dirty little wretch l' thought the
landlady's daughter. But Jack has never ceased
to bless the snow-storm which brought Cupid to
his door, in the shape of a little street boy al
most as naked as his neurological prototype.
-Godeys Ladys Book.