Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1871-06-24
KITTEN.

ul"StiItCeut uWcifIiiX w one M Tie
most aristOcratic streets In New York.
Ellen, the elder, was rocking herself
In front of the glass between the win
dows, and Bessie was standing tiptoe
before the mirror on the mantelpiece,
!" fixing" herself, as ladies call it.
that Is, rearranging her dress, gener-
ally, without rhyme or reason--tak-
ing Of the bow at the throat, shaking
out her false clrls, putting up her pam
Ter, and betting In her waist.
These two sisters, the only children
OF a rich widowed stock broker,
wercfin every particular of dress and
thought, girls Of the period.
rhSy never quarreled exactly, bit
were Always mt variance In their Opin-
ions, and permitted themselves to use
that unpleasant frankness which Is
the bane of too great intimacy, and
the downright contradiction which
prevails with relatives who are not
obliged to be polite in the home cir
Gle.
"Iwish," said Ellen, that Kitten
wouldn't come here any more"
"Iwish," replied Bessie, "that you
would stop calling him Kitten. /
don't see any fun in It. He's not a
bit like kitten"
"He IL, then, laughed Ellen " his
hair Is light, what call kitten gray,
or drab; his eyes are gray, so is his
complexion; he wears q gray hat,
gray pants, gray gloves; his sparse
mlstache sticks out just like cats,
and he speaks In purring voice.
Externally he is very like kitten,
but morally think he Is more of the
mouse order, without n grain Of Esprit.
Whenever see him siding up to you,
without the courage to pay you open
attention, I think Of such Il the king
dom Of hcnpecked husbands"
IT hope" retorted her sister, that
when you enter the kingdom of hem
pecked husbands, yours MAY have o
purse rs long as your tongue, ELL"
~ tell you, Bessie, IL what pa said
: yesterday comes to pass, and old Mr..
Farringdon's bank breaks, your mild
hammered man will have to take a
nurse maids situation.n
And Ellen laughed, and rocked
back far enough to reflect the heels Of
her tiny boots; hut Bessie sighed,
and said, th0ughtfully:
al suppose 1t would go very hard
with poor Kitten to work for his liv-
ing. There's great deal said now
a-days about the young folks Of the
period; but no blame Is ever attach
ed to the way in which the old people
bri 1g them up-particularly girls-in
idleness, ignorance and extravagance.
Rich parents takes it for granted that
their wealth is going to last forever,
rand poor ones that, by hook or by
crook, their children will get rich
and so they never teach them any
thing that will be of service In adver.
sity; then, when they are thrown
iout in the word to shit for them
selves, they 60 1t badly enough, the
men often by their wits, and the wo-
men Ivy worse. Now there's pool
Danald Harrington; what earthly
1 thing could he do to earn his salt, u
say nothing of his bread ?-Or you
orI? It's u hard, hollow world!"
"Therc you are mistaken; it's no,
hard nor hollow, being an incandes-
cent mass Of"
Bother your science! There's pa
let's go down to dinner"
It was true, he told them during
dinner, that harrington & Brother
had suspended payment; their liabil.
tiles were large, and the merchant
princes of yesterday were the beggars
of to-day.
How did the meek and purring
Kitten" bear the blow?
An only son, lie had been reared in
luxury, and i'm the belief that great
fortune would be his: that, therefore
labor-mental or physical = woult
never be necessary.
He knew positively nothing o
practical use, although he could swim
like duck, sing like the tenor of al
opera, and dance like Polish prince
He could drive pair Of fast horses
without splitting his tight violet kid
gloves, was n celebrated ameteul
"catch" OF base ball, the pride o
the rowing club, and Nimrod with
the gun, and Hollander on the skat
ing rink but he had never studded
profession, nor learned any honest,
hard-handed trade. He wouldn't be.
come a musc-teachcr nor salesman,
so he tried to keep n set OF books. He
found that he could not make In one
year by that as much as he had for.
merly spent in neckties and gloves; SO
he resigned his situation In three
months, and stood alone In the world
without u penny or the means of earn
ing one, and with all his luxurious
habits to be overcome. But there re
manned to him still the good gifts 81
his pride and youthful manhood
The first prompted him to withdraw
Immediately from his set 4" thereby
avoiding the humiliation Of "cuts u
the second enabled him to face the
worst without murmur.
He wrote to Bessie Vandecken, re
leasing her from her engagement
giving his reverses as the reason
For "a while he hoped she would cling
to him; but when briefnote came, eX.
pressing polite but cold regret for his
altered fortune, he made up his mind
that he must resign love as well as
friends and position then, in the
Roy, "he pulled his bonnet DER his
brow, took to the woots and hills,
and beca me "A broken man."
The firm of Harrington & Brother
soon passed out of the remembrance OF
al but the sufferers by IL. Kittens faith
er skunk away to thepoverty stricken
retreats OF brOken-down gentlemen I;
for his had been no fictitious failure,
leaving the bankrupts rich. Thus
Kitten faded so completely out OF
Bessie's " set I" tn It she could learn
nothing Of him or his whereabouts.
On the receipt Of his letter she felt
that she loyed him. aud told her faith
er so. She was young, and stood In
awe Of her father, who forbade her to
hold out any enc0uragementto young
Farrinydom, giving these reasons:
that she, by virtue Of her bringing
up, was untitled to be the wife OF a
poor man; that her father, would
never support a son-in law; that every
man should take care of his own wife,