Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-01-11

the wisdom Of T. But thaa woman, aotvith-
Standing she wssa TAreevit, had very little dis
"Bst ycu do mot possess the purse of Fortune
tuF, my young fr.erd, |" said the judge, properly
ienoiing Mrs Featheredge's remark: rhov 4
the thing to he KEEP: upT''
"h, aven only knuws." sighed Mrs.. Feather
. am irving to make it partly .lf-sussa;n-
ing, said Baf bsra, '.hy exarting - small fee
wetkiy. which collect myself every fharsssy
And theypay up promptly, esfa said the
sSh, yes" Barbara answered; sit is only i've
Poor childr' laughed the Judge,
s.Barbarai" cried Cleme ntina, angrily. ..
wonder that Won not ashamed tn let SO paltry
a brsiEcss come 70 Judge tiregcrys knovicdgc9i'
said barbara, with 50 beseeching a look in her
,sthat. for a moment, We pitied her.
:. Well" said the judge; SIN laughing, chow
did you assemble the rabble, chiid?o
twas painful to US 10 perceive that Judge
Gregory's respect for Barbara was abating; peo-
PIE were not accustomed TO call her Child
But Barbara was 50 infatuated that the novel
address made very little impression upon her.
81 wrote a-a-an advertise ment," she re-
Piled, hesitating for word, but not at all
abashed, (Which the Daily News published
PAYNE and U tEe poom shted he amI
and waited. Only three boys came. ex-
planned the purpose Of the undertaking, and
asked them to induce their companions to at
tend. was 50 anxious to get start that, du-
ring the first week, opened the room every
evening. At last, eleven boys made their APP
pearance; and, as thought this a good num-
Little cries of "Oh! oh! oh.' from an the
Threevits followed this audacious announce
ment. Mrs. Featheredge demanded her SMELL
ng-salts; Uncle Joseph looked belligerent; the
Barbara became extremely grave. 81 hone. ,,
she stammered, "that i did nothing amiss?
Something had to be said, and there was no one
else to say it,"
"what!' exclaimed the judge, edo you mean
to tell me that You entered npon this work with
out the aid of your family?"
ayes, she did!" cried Judith. Barbara can
never say that she had not warning enough; but
"a wilful woman must have her way"
"Dear judge, !" said Mrs. Featheredge, who
would talk, lid You ever hear of any thing 50
"Neyer!' said the Judge, severely. "Upon
my veracity, madam, never did. That girl
Oftwenty-two should deliberately fOrego the ad-
and such hat as Miss wilhelminas, for the
purpose Of cultivating the literary propensities
of set Of lawles youths, is incredible; and that
she should venture upon sueh pursuit unaided
There, Barbara!'' we cried, exultingly.
Barbara, TO do her justice, was not utterly
graceless; che seemed to feel the Judges
suffused her face, while a curious twitching,
like the prelude to q smile or tear, we could
not tell which, struggled around her lips.
"And what sort of intellectual food do you
supply for five cents a week?" asked the Judge,
with that severe CLEAN in his eyes which made
us all quail except Barbara. But she was al
"Principally storie.," replied she, as cheer
fully as though the Judge had been commend
ing her course. :" You know that what they
need most is amusement; but l shall gradually
tory. Yesterday an unknown friend sent me a
check for fifty dollars-was it you, Judge Greg
"haye you lost all sense of propriety?"
mot l." said the judge, emphasizing with his
fOrefnger. When give to this mad concern
OF yours, Barbara, III do it openly"
81 hope So" said Barbara, Laughing.
"And IN give more than fifty dOllars.'
"Thank you, sir"
"I dare say, now, that you are meditating
some absurdity for Christmas"
al do not know what would be suitable" said
Barbara.
"How would a magic-lantern exhibition
"Veiy well, think; but-but-the truth is,
my poor little venture is in debt, and 1 am
afraid that cannot afford II.
at shall not cost You cent" said the Judge,
tern and exhibit it myself. should wish no
"Oh, thank you! thank you," cried Barbara,
Judpe Gregory turned to US and made a conf
cal face, which Quieted our rising doubts.
We thought Ii strange that Barbara, usually
30 quick, should misinterpret the judge; but Il
s'too deep for his hearers, and, in this instance,
it did seem 90. 1t was patent to us that he meant
to put an end to :" Barbara's folly" by simply
making ii ridiculous.
what Judge Gregory said or did after he left
us, We never learned. He was a man of extern
sive influence, and the good people Of our town
were always ready to follow where he led. Mrs.
AaI.y
party IL Difference to he magic lantern exhi-
bitiOn. We Threevits had not contemplated
attending. 1t was well enough, we argued, that
Barbara should reap the bitter Fruits Of her
made conspicuous by her defeat. 1t was our
purpose, therefore, to remain at home, but pub
lie opinion was too strong for us, and We entered
the room sacred to Barbara's folly" for the
first time, on Christmas-eve.
1t was thronged. Those iron-mil boys con-
tinued to hand chairs over the heads of people
until we feared they would ds%olish every
couture in the house. How could Barbara en-
duTe to throw herself among such creatures?
And yet, they did not seem SO very rough and
Barbara was on the stage in that same old
black alpaca; but, happily for our family pride,
a magic-lantern requires darkness; and, when
the lamps were relighted after the exhibition
forget her plain toilet completely. Besides Bar
bara, there were on the stage Judge Gregory
and another gentleman, whose face was
strangely ran1ffaf.
The eXhibitlonw was eonplete success, judg-
ing from the laughter and applause with which
the room res0unded; but 1t did seem to us that
Judge Gregory almost made q buffoOn Of him
self, and his illusions, strange to say, all ap-
peared to favor Barbara. We, therefore, were
not altogether unprepared for what followed
when the lamps were relighted.
The Judge, having, as he said, laid aside the
character Of Snowman, delivered short ad-
dress, in which he c0mplimented Barbara 30
beautifully that we almost felt reconciled to tn
course she had taken and we were greatly re-
leved to find that he did not intend to be severe
upon the silly child.
We could not see, though, how it would end:
When Judge Gregory sat down, the gentleman
on the stage with him rose 1t was Louis Ell
mer! He had just returned from his travels.
Self-respect compelled us Threevits to disap-
prove whatever an Elmer said OF did; and, I'M
der the circumstances, We did not see why Mr..
Louis Elmer should presume to say anything at
ALL If the feud between his family and the
Threevits was not sufficient to restrain him from
making display Of himself where We were con-
cerned, his fathers recent death should have
kept him quiet in public.
The audience, however, were Of different
opinion; and those noisy iron-mil boys were out
rageOus in their applause every time any refer
ence was made to Barbara
Mr.. Elmer, we thought, expressed himself
with affected modesty. He declared that he
felt it reproach to his manhood that young