The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-03-24
Written for the Star.J
OUR ALMANAC
By DARD BEST.

| By DARD BEST.
We had been manufacturing our pat
ented Seamless Kitchen Towels for over
\ two years before we thought OF issuing
free advertising almanac; and even
when the thought came down upon US
at one tell swoop like the huttering wing
OF an inspiring angel, we proed 1t and
COINED ii and talked it before we ven-
| tured to set the plan going.
| l say "we," Wnen perhaps l oughtn't
aspire to the honor or being included In
the firm proper, which, in fact. was COM
posed OF only two men-Mr. James
Renn and Alexander Rhodes. or Sandy
Rhodes, as / called him. You see l
was-well, about his one-hundred-and-
third cousin; but he always treated me
as il l was as nearly related as Jenny
Rem herself, who was his great-aunts
own granddaughter. think the reason
OF my receiving such considerate treat
ment at his hands was because l was
\ the only other besides himself VINO held
the old family name-for my name was
Rhodes-Felicia Rhodes.
was, at the time of which write, In
Sandy's employ, being his clerk and
book-keeper, and right busy was | kept
L
began to be seriously talked OF, |, OF
course, putin my little say and advised
them to have it original, and advertise
in the Morning Avalanche for contrlbu-
tions for it's columns. l furthermore Of
fered to help Sandy select from among
them suitable articles. Sandy's gray
eyes expressed satisfaction and his lips
said, "Thank you, Felicia, l will call
| upon you."
| Somehow Sandy had changed so much
during the time / had been working in
the factory office. LII l can remember
Alright he seemed big, broad-shoul-
| dered, good-looking fellow when he came
| over TO his great-aunVs. where worked
as sort OF daily governess, and asked
me if | would not like change Of toll.
jumped at the chance, and went down
and made friends with the high stool,
the th1n-legged desk and the ink-bottle,
and tried TO forget that the ill-natured
Jenny Rem and the smaller fry of the
Rem. family had their being in the same
| world that held me.
Sandy was very kind; and, although a
passing nod and CHEEKY smile were all l
had of him for days at a stretch, still my
life was enriched by such human sun
light, and / never forgot to thank my
lucky stars for my remote relationship
with Sandy. But / have said that he
changed during those two years. The
metamorphosis, to be exact, began at
Christmas time Of the first year, and was
caused by my discovering a box on my
desk, when l came to "lock up" on the
evening Of the 24Dh OF December. How
surprised was, TO be sure! Why, not
one had remembered Christmas and Fe-
licia in one thought before for years and
yearsi
Wen, my box was full of useful things
-handkerchiefs that l blessed, gloves
that kissed, and a new dress pattern
that wept over; and away down under
everything photograph, had hidden it.
self. l tished it up, and 10! Sandy's face
beamed out at me with the words "Santa
Claus" written under it, upon the mar
gin, And it was then the metamorphosis
began. Lknow it was all attributable to
the photograph; Tor, in the. little room at
my clearinghouse, Pd sit and Groom
over it and study it, and at the office I'd
peep out shyly as he passed me, to make
sure il such and such feature had been
truly printed By the SUMS rays. But old
Sol hadn't done him justice, consid-
cred, and Sandy began TO grow like a
god-his face grew handsumer than the
faces Of mortaIs generally DO grow, his
splendid physique was enhaloed, and in
deed. he seemed TO walk i'll a transcen-
dent radiance that permeated even the
| seamless Kitchen towels and caused
them TO have sort OF beauty OF their
own.
Well, to 60 back to the starting point
this divine mortal was young and hand
some, was neither old nor ugly, and
we were. in company with the senior
partner Of the firm, Mir. Rem, about. TO
spend an evening together at the office
| looking over the many manuscripts that
had flowed in in answer to our solicit
ling advertisement; for, acting upon my
! advice, Sandy had Inserted six line
| advertisement for three days, in which
authors were begged to submit their ar
ticles to US, and, If acceptable, we would
pay such price as they were worth to us.
/ was somewhat alarmed at the bun.
die Sandy brought in, it was SO much
larger than we had any of us expected
But we girded up our mental loins and
all drew up our chairs to the round
leather-coyered table in the middle ol
the room, upon which stood a standard
lamp that cast its light upon the pile oI
MSS, but left our 1aces in the gloon
that held sway all about us.
sLet US have some system; yes, de
cidedly, let us systematiZe our proceed
ings Tonight" said Mr.. Rem, nice
loyable old gentleman, whose one hobby
was to see that all proceedings" were
l"systematized" to his entire satisfac
| ton. So one decided to open the MSS
in turn and all three could then decide
upon their merits. Sandy placed The
huge pile within easy reach OF oul
several pairs of hands, and tossed {
penny to see who should have first peep
Mr.. Rem won; and, donning his spec
taeles, the dear old soul read the follow
4 ing in q drawing manner, that was 8,
i highly laughabie he could only read hal
q paragraph. 1t was in the, Countess o
4 Biessington's best style, and ran some
what in this fashion:
"In the twilight OF certain day il
the summer OF tDe year blank hundre,
and blankty.blank, solitary horsemal
might be seen vending his lonely wa
, towards the setting sun, which woul
fain have fingered to light the path Q
: the ~"
aOh, Unclev' cried Sandy, and ssOh
Uncleln cried I--for he insisted l shoul
. always call him Uncle-and then W
, | both laughed. lie looked question
ii US. Sandy answered.
, "Its too prosy for these days, Uncle,
3 said he; sjust toss it Into this baske
/. please. Now, Feliciaw
L ot,,aost trnnti1lad 40 T fora nnau a