The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-08-20
Dan de 1u.jie's Experience With an I'm
c hrelIa.

From q secent letter in ;hc Virginia
Ehtcrpr1s,, written by Dan de guile,
whoiSno residing in Hartford, Conn,
we extract the following:
| remained in New York three days.
inc lay after my arrival it rained all
day. was in the Grand Central Hotel
and had business away down town At
Pine .sn! Liberty Streets, and in all
kinds ii places where | could not 90
without IN umbrella. SO | bought II
the first one | ever bought in my life.
1t was also about the only one that |
ever undertook to control. | bought
this machine because | was now, as |
argued, IN 4 rainy ccuntry-liabie to
have showers at any time and OCCASION
should often want during the summer.
When bought It | let the man | bought
il of d. al the talking about umbrellas,
while J maintained a sort OF sarcastic
neutrality which melted him to tell me
AL hc knew about the article in que>-
ton, n AL of its varieties. At the end
of his lecture | pointed out the one |
would take, and | presume that to this
day he believes me to have been an UNI
breIla sharp-that is, an expert in UNI
hrcllae.
When I had got my umbrella |
marched out on Broadway, in front OF
the Grand Central, with it. 4 nice
shower IN which Il try it was going on.
Parties about me in the portico were I'M
furlinI aud setting sail, and | Unhut-
toned tbe band on my umbrella and
tried = urfurl it, but couldn't bulge il.
| trict it in various ways, but couldn't
dn 4 thing with it. | concluded that
the place was too public for further cN-
pertinent, 80 ! went up to my room,
locked ,hc door. drew an armchair to
the window, and sat down and serious
~ contemplated my recent purchase. |
knew that away up under the cloth there
used - be some kind of slidc-yalvc that
turned loose the whole works, hut i
couiGn'b get inside Of this to find said
1aIy" CT spring. Finally | began trar-
in| I'D the ribs of the machine. and
tound thai all OF their ends We're tucked
undrr2 Sliding band of metal. | pulled
this - and let out the ribs, when
| 90 Inside and found the same
old regulation spring, the mode
of operating which | remembered,
then 2 GOT her up. | again went
out il front of the hotel, and this time
unfuriod with a flourish. OF | start
down broadway. It WIS all umbrellas
~ far rs ! could see up and down the
sidewalk Bounding pillows Of Wmbrel-
ia>. / suffered innumcrablc collisions.
I'm umbrella coming up street would
strike one edge of my umbrella and
send : spinning in my hand like I top
while ! wts lookingto see what had hap
pcncd aud whether or not any gentle
man WA engaged in a~pologiZing To me;
another umbrella coming down the
street would hook into the ribs of mine
and SEND it spinning in the opposite
direction. | began to think perhaps |
did . hold it right. | tried several
experiments, and in the midst of one of
them, which promised to prove Il sue
cess. came rear being run 0yc by Il
hacA. having got into L cross street
without observing it. BY steering over
10 the cast side of Broadway and keep
mo in the least throngcd places on the
walk, ] managed to beat down town I'M
der full sal, but coming back | took to
a street car. In the car | turned my
umbrella handle down, a> | found the
waite IAN ont OF it more readily that
WAY. SAID an old lady-fnc, venerable
looking w0man-said she: *Sir, why
do you hold your umbrella in that way
s,Bccan4e, madam, said |, 1.-the
umbrella drains off better III that posi-
ton" GLOW very Ingenious" said
the old lady. eyes" said |, ''if You
want Your umbrella TO drain ont rapidly
turn It tmtt end down" 81 shall re-
member this said the old lady draw
inc her dress out of the puddle of water
| noE perceived vas beginning to form
in tho bottom of the car. Now, here
WAS m old lady who had probably been
used 20 umbrellas all her life, taking a
lesson about them from a person mailing
from land where such a thing is not
seen. Ifclt proud of il, but as | saw
that L little too much water was eScap-
mo irG) the bottom of the car | turned
-.lArolL, Cnnnll ~ .la..u. 1917.