The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-09-10

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this world of sin and wickedness, where
one doesn't know exactly where he
stands till the ground slips from under
him, and he finds himself sliding down
hill on the back of his head instead Of
walking up.ightly off on his ear, each
individual has quite enough dirty linen
Of his or her own wash without bother
ing with that of others, and / do not
purpose TO 60 into the mutual laundry
business A
All the while that this speech was
going on Paulina, with innocent, child
ish curiosity. had been untying a knot
which was in the handkerchief, this
done, 10 and behold, three rings were
displayed to view-diamonds, every one
of them!
'Paulina,'' said I, 'smy words were.
the words Of foolishness and inexpe-
rience. On mature reflection say to
you, Go through the world with your
eyes open. and pick up all the soiled
handerchiefs which you may fnd lying
around loose, especially if there be
knots in them, for, 10, they may contain
diamond rings within p
And in my own heart I resolved to
pick up no plain gold rings in the fa-
ture. For once on time did pick up
one, to my sorrow-as all who know the
present Mrs. Paul will bear me mourn
full witness! IS -s M
It seemed impossible that I could not
find the owner Of those rings, but it
was difficult thing to do. l inquired
all round, and no one had lost any
rings or knew of any one else that had.
So in the innocence of my hearth com
fided the secret Of my find to Mr.. Bres-
lin. He was kind enough to examine
them and take mental memorandum
of the number and size of the stones,
and the inscriptions inside, and in few
minutes returned to say that he had
found the fair owner. He went on to
describe them so accurately that
gave them out of my possession with.
out thought or suspicion. But
now am haunted by the belief that he
will be wearing them himself to metro
politan balls this winter. For he is
still wearing on his feet the shoes which
l lost at Congress Hall when he was at
the head of the Found-and-Lost De-
partment, some five years ago.
There was some very fine dressing at
the ball last evening. One old gontle-
man had his hair fiuted. and finer eff.
feet, let me say, is seldom produced at
less expense. A lady attracted consid-
cradle attention by having her dress
cut down in the back with liberality
which astonished me and
delighted the backbiters on the back
piazza. Twas not the Pompadour style,
exactly, rather more on the Barndoor
style of architecture, l should say;
and nothing could be in better taste if a
lady's back were a Boulevard if
not, not. My daughter wore an Gle
CANT lace dress, cut on bias,and gored
in one or two places by COW which got
at the clothes line in June. She had
sash gracefully wound round her body
in several different directions, sash in
which all the colors Of the rainbow were
beautifully blended, and the effect in
combination with her blue boots was
very fine indeed. wore claw hammer
coat, one tail of which had been eaten
off by the moths, but as I always had
a feeling Of being whitfield down when
| put it on, it did not matter much to
me, besides it was cooler the way the
moths fixed it. My cravat was white,
my gloves were delicate layendar-
and had only been worn to few Area
dian Club receptions before. My pam
falcons were black, my shoes were
black, and my vest, inside of which I
wore seven glasses Of Congress water,
was black. My eyes also, were black,
through sparring with the electric bell
knobs of the Grand Union Hotel, not
one of which is in working order! And
my face was black with shouting for
chambermaid to fill the pitchers, and
yelling down the speaking-tube, at the
other end of the hall, in vain endeavors
to get pitcher Of ice-water brought to
the room occasionally. So, black being
the only wear, it is not strange that
take somber view Of things in this
letter. aa 80 JoHN PAUL.