The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-09-07
A Twilight IdyI.


sweetest girls in Burlington. They
were nice girls. Beautiful, accom-
plished and modest. And Mr.. Hen
derson was nice young man too. He
wore that evening little straw hat
with baby blue band, cutaway coat,
q pair of light, wide pantaloons, a
white vest a button-hole bouquet and
fifteen cents.
The evening was very warm, and as
they walked these young people talked
about the base ball match, the weather
and sunstrokes. By and by one of the
young ladies gave delicate little
shrek.
80, 600! What funny signr'
"Where =? Where? Which one,
Elfrida?" asked the other young lady
eagerly.
"Ha-yes," said Mr.. Henderson, in
troubled tones, looking gently but reso-
lutely at the wrong side of the street.
There exclaimed Elfrida, art
lessly, pointing as she spoke. "How
funny it is spelled; see, Ethel"
"Why," said Ethel, sit is spelled
correctly, isn't it, Mr. Henderson,"
"Ha-why-aw-why, yes, yes to be
sure said Mr.. Henderson, very
huskily, staring as hard as he could at
the window full of house plants.
"Why, Mr.. Henderson," said Elfri-
da, in tones of amazement, chow can
you say so? just see, ice, ice,
c-r-double EN-, cream that mot the
way to spell cream
"Oh, Elfrida," cried her companion,
''you must be near sighted. That isn't
an e, it is an a. Isn't it, Mr.. Hender-
son?''
And Mr.. Henderson, who was pray
ing harder than he ever prayed before
that an earthquake might come along
and swallow up either himself or all the
ice cream saloons in the United States,
he didn't much care which, looked up
at the chimney of the house and said:
"ThatP Oh, yes, yes; of course,
why, certainly. How very much cooler
it has grown within the past few min
utes;" the young man suddenly added,
with q kind of inspiration, ''surely that
cool wave the signal service dispatches
announced as having entered this
country from Manitoba, must be near
ing us once more
And he took out his handkerchief
and swabbed face that looked as
though it had never heard OF a cool
wave nor even looked into the face of
a man who had heard of one. He
knew when he talked Gifts being cooler,
that his face would scorch an iceberg
brown in ten minutes.
By this time they turned the corner
| a nd a n gif
Mr.. Henderson breathed like a free
man.
Il always like to stroll along Jeffer-
son street in the evening"" said Ethel.
''It's SO lively. N.Y. Just look at the
crowd of people going in at that door.
What is going on there, Mr.. Hender-
son?'
Mr.. Henderson looked across to the
other side of the street, as usual, and
| said:
"Oh, yes; that is a clothing house"
"Why, no, Mr.. Henderson, eX-
claimed Elfrida; that's an ice cream
saloon"
Ethel laughed merrily. "Do you
know" she said, Il wondered what
so many young ladies could want in
, ClOUIllD nOuStF
Mr.. Henderson said, "Ha, ha! to be
sure And Oh, the feeble, ghastly
tincture of mirth there was in his nerv-
Gus "ha, ha." 1t sounded as though
boy with the earache should essay to
| laugh.
"Is it true, Mr.. Henderson," asked
Ethel, THAT soda fountains sometimes
exploded"
Mr.. Henderson, gasping for breath,
eagerly assured her that they did, very
frequently, and that in every instance
they scattered death and destruction
around. In many of the eastern cities,
he said, they have been abolished by
law, and the same thing should be done
here. In New York, the young man
went on, all the soda fountains had
been removed far outside the city lin
its, and were located far in lonely
meadows, side by side with powder
houses.
81 am not afraid of them" said the
daring Ethel, Il don't believe they are
a bit dangerous.
Nor l." echoed Elfrida, Il would
not be afraid to walk up to one and
stand by it all day. Why are you so
afraid of them, Mr. Henderson,"
Mr.. Henderson CRASHED his teeth and
secretly pulled out great sheaf of
hair from his head in nervous agony.
Then he said that he once had fair,
sweet young sister blown to pieces by
one of those terrible engines of destruc-
ton while she was drinking at it, and
he had never since been able to look
upon a soda fountain without growing
faint.
"How sad," said both the young
ladies, and then Ethel asked:
How do they make soda water, Mr.
Henderson,
And while the young man was getting
ready to recite a recipe composed main
ly of dirt and poison, Elfrida read aloud
four ice cream signs, and read on
transparency Lemon ices, cooling, re-
freshing and healthful,n and Elfrida
read, Ladies' and gentlemen's ice
cream parlors" twice, and Ethel looked
in at the door and said, "Oh, don't
they look nice and cool in there! How
comfortable and happy they do look"
And then Elfrida said: Yes, indeed,
it makes this dusty street and scorch-
ing sidewalk seem like an oven, Just to
look at them even," and then young
Mr. Henderson, who for the last ten