Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-11-05

home in the evening hefound her in tears.
my darling,'' he said, what 3 the mat
ter?''
Then. with many breaks and thousand
sobs, Mrs. Smith squeezed out the infor-
nation that she had met the wife of Mr..
Lawrence O'Ragan, who kept the sample
room on the corner, with polonaise on
| that never cost a cent less than $500. And
when Smith came to think it over he re-
membered having seen this Identical lady
come into the BARRON with that identical
gorgeous piece of apparel on, and ask Mr..
Lawrence O'Ragan for money, and that
Mr.. Lawrence O'Ragan had thereupon
gone down into his pantaloons pocket and
lshed up q regular Daniel Lambert Of p
wallet, from which he extracted $50 WITH
out making any noticeable impression upon
it, and handed the money over: to his
spouse. The recollection caused him a
pang., 81 have been buying that woman
clothes,'' said he to himself, land here is
my own wife going, I might say, Naked
And what good does it do me? Ne4 any.
1 will do it no longer" So he comfUrted
his wife, and told her he had found a way
to get the money without incommoding
any one, and she should have her cloak.
Next day he met Brown as usual, and
Brown, as usual, extended the invitation
! to nip.
"Nay," said good Mr.. Smith, s'nip me
no more nips. have nipped my last nip,
and nip no more. L shall never contribute
another cent to this accursed traffic in
liquor. I've sworn off,"
And so it was. Every day, instead of
spending that money on liquor, he laid it
aside. True, the friendship between him
and Brown cooled off, but his pile grew
from day to day. And in the short space
of one year he had saved the requisite
amount.
One evening he walked into the house
with bundle under his arm. When he
had laid aside his nat and umbrella, he
stepped over to where his wife was sitting,
and tossed it into her lap. She opened it.
There were ten yards of elegant silk velvet
and $25 in shinplasters. The little lady s
eyes sparkled with joy. Size sprang up
and threw her arms about his neck. 80,
John, where did you get it, you dear,
good, old boy? 0, amt it just lovely, my
dear, and the money, too, how much there
is OF. it! l am sure 1 never had such a
pleasant surprise in all my-life; kiss
me-"
John Smith, he of the widowed head,
but warm heart and tender stomach, sat
down and told her all about it, And a
happier evening pever was spent by two
human beings.
Now there comes turn in this business.
The cloak was made up. It did LOOK
finely, and no mistake. 1t was simply
magnificent. Too magnificent. But Mrs.
Smith was no grumbler. She knew it
overshadowed everything else she had, in
deed she did, but instead Of whining and
complaining about it she stayed at home.
Really, the first Sunday she wore it to
church, she could actually have sunk out
Of sight through the tiniest little bit OF a
hole when she saw Georgiana Robinson
(the hateful, squirting thingD look out OF
the corners of her eyes at that cloak and
then at the shabby old hat she wore, and
nudge her sister Mile and smile, as much
as to say:."O dear! put a beggar on horse
back!'' To be sure, the bonnet was only
trimmed over once, and without any thing
SO beautiful and aristocra.ic as that cloak
to dwarf it, would have been very passa-
BILE bonnet-indeed, quite But, then!
And she burned all oyer for pure shame
when she had to go SO slowly, an inch at a
time down that long aisle when church
was out, with the Joneses crowding be-
hind her, and though they pretended to
be SO sweet and nice, she knew very well
what they were grinning at. It was those
old gloves--black gloves-that she had
worn year, and that cashmere dress with
the bugle tt mining. 0 yes! They needn 7
be so very nice! She knew them. And
she stayed at home next Sunday, and tht
next, and the next, and then Smith de
manded an explanation. He got it, and
how her face bur ned and her eyes snapped
through her tears as she made it.
Never mind, his dear. She shouldshavt
q silk dress and things to match that cloak
Indeed she should. His wife was just as
good as either Jones' or Robinson's If BIZ
hadn't as much money, and if sDme peo
ple's judgment was to be trusted, a good
deal better. And he'd see about this mat
ter of dress.
So Smith quit Chewing tobacco snt
stopped smoking. It almost killed him
but he stopped; and in another year hi
wife had as beautiful silk dress as eve
you saw, and gloves! O'my!
But there was that hat trouble, tina
Everlasting hat difficulty. That broke GU
again on the OCCASION of the opera. Dear
dear! What an awful-looking thing Il
was, indeed. And she couldn't take IL Of
in the theatre, either, though shedistinctl
, heard two young gentlemen behind he
curse it in actual terms, with downright
awful swearing words; and the young lad.
that sat next to her really seemed to b
unnecessarily scornful and select just be
cause, forsooth, she had on hat that cos
at least $75, when the truth was it was no
the real style to wear any bonnet at all a
? the opera, but only a Western barbarism
3 1t had to come. Smith needed new
' boots. He needed a new suit OF clothes
3 He didn't get them, but Mrs. Smith got
| new hat "a perfect marvel of a. hat-a ha
: that was worth at least about SIS, but COS
atleast fifteen times that much. A regu
g lar capsized oyster-boat of a hat, with th
: most enchanting of impossible flowers al
t over it, and a streamer behind it tia
e would have done honor to the mast-top 9
D | a vessel about to sail.
Y Did this end it? No. It made the deal
e good little lady feel absolutely sick t