American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1868-11-28
The Story Of Blue Beard.
BY THE "FAT CONTRIBUTOR"

BY THE "FAT CONTRIBUTOR."
I, A long fine ago, before the invpn
ton Of hair dye, when Il man had t
weal bis beard the color that nature
made it, whether he would or not
there was n man who had made him.
self enormously rich N a whiSkty
r, inspector, or something Of that sort
| do n't know precisely where be
lived, bat think he lived mostly III
u, the Imagination.
). He run a great castle OH the En-.
!. ropean plan. had horses and run
them. and. in fact, run about every.
thing in his eighborhoOA. including
running for Office and running With
the girls, for ar the time Of which |
write he WAS a gay widowcr. He
had great quantities OF green backs,
corner lots, oil stock, bonds and
things, but he was hidpously nglv.
and mad wtbaI an enormous blue
beard-trighttnl to contemplate
which gave him the cognomrn OF
Blue Beard, by which he was known
to the cOuntry round about, aS well
as to the country that had lsid off
its rOund dJoHt, and consequently
was in its SHIRT sleeves.
Blue Beard grew weary of living
in solitary magnihcruce III his lorAiy
castle, and finding that he WAS get.
ting bluer and bluer every dav, de
tcrmined to marry. Having been
married haIf "A dozen timcS-takrn
half dozen raw. as one might say
he was naturally quite miserable
when depl we'd of the gentle intIu-
cnces of the sex for any length Of
| time.
One of his neighbors was a widow
lady. who had two very beautiful
and highly accomplished daughters.
They could play the piano, harp and
seven up, and work embroidery and
panchettc elegantly.
TO this widow lady Blue Beard
applied for the hand and general
anatomy of one of her daughters,
Isaviug her to decide which one Sde
would give him. Although the
g stamps" he had pleaded loudly IN
he favor, As they do yet, although
this was a great many years ago,
vet that dreadful beard was sgainSt
him. and neither of The young women
desired to have it against her. Blue
wasn't fashionable for boards; il it
had been it might have been differ
ent. One Of thtm wcpt bitterly be
cause it would be several hundred
Years vet before hair dye won'd BE-
discovered so that he could have his
whiSkeTs dyed.
Another circumstance rendered
them shy of hm. He was having
wedding every once III while AT the
cas- le, but "no funerals" Wedding
cake had been ordered several times,
but no undertaken had had a job
there vet. No matter how many
times man is left a widower, it he
correSpondingly patronizeS some re.
sDpctable owner OF a heaTS", but re
peated wedlocks without funerals is
certainly a suspicious circumstance.
Blue Beard cunning'y invited the
family and their irien, ) To the castle,
where they passed a week so -
fully that the youngest dauS". -,
began to think that blue was a
pretty good color for whiskerS after
all, particularly when their poSSeSSor
conid keep such an establishment as
that, where they had three meals a
dav, besides lunch every morning
from ten o'clock until eleven. She
looked with contempt on RED WhiSk-
cred beau of hers she used to think
perfectly splendid" and actually
asked him why he didn't "rub indi-
90 into 'em." The upShOt Of the
business was. she promised to become
Mrs. Is. Beard, aud the wedding was
celebrated with great ecidt.
At the expiration of the honey
moon. Blue Beard pretended to his
wife that business of Importance
called him away to Il distant city.
He would be absent for several
weeks. and in the meantime she
could invite company and enjoy her
self as much as possible. He gave
her bunch of keys, enabling her to
feast her eyes upon the diamonds
{ he loaned money on collateral"
sometimeS,) greenbackS, ssven-thir-
ties. revenue stamps and rcceipted
gas bills deposited there-alSo Civ
ing access to the wine cellar, store
room, picture gallery, billiard room.
ten. pin alley, corn house, etc, etc.
But one little key opened room in
the basement that she must not ap-
proach save upon her peril. She
promised, and he took a street car
for the depot.
From the time Mother Eve diSre-