The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-05-25

That Little Place Of Browns

some old friends Of our from the city
came to live in our neighborbood.
We were At supper one night when m,
wife told me.
They're going TO take the French,prop.
ed house around the corner said Sally
"With the big extension and the c~onserya
tory, and as happened TO be walking gu
Just as the trucks came down, / couidn'
help seeing that the parlor furniture Il o
crimson satin demAsk and ebony-I thinl
it's ebony, but l won't be sure continu-
ed my wife /: "but at any rate its In
swell, that's 4 comfort. any Way said
u. "If you're positive it's inlaid, Sally
you a perhaps go on with you
supper"
theme that she hadn't eaten 4 morsel, aAnC
there's the handsomest bedroom set fol
Jane that l most ever laid my eyes on
its one Of these dressing bureaus, Joe, will
. magnificent plateglass that reaches
down 70 the floor.
aThat's good,n said /. %You can rur
around there, when you have your mex
gown fitted, and see the hang Of it,"
"1don't expect 10 run around there
said Sally, craning her neck up stifly
turning up the end Of her nose, and draw
Ing her lips down.
SWhy, what's the matter" said L
aWnnft Jane friendly? I've done many
q good turn for Black in my day, and
hope they're not going to turn the cold
shoulder now
aoh, abe was friendly enough" said
Sally "but we can't expect, Joe, that
people living in that kind Of style can be
upon terms Of intimacy with people that
live as we do. There are certain ~restric-
lions in society"
aRestrictions be hapgedlp I cried.
"I,m as good a man as Black any day in
the week.
HYou're as good as the President, for
that matter" said Sally; "but It's all like
q pair Of scales, Joe: when one goes up;
another goes down, and, from the way
things look, II II take q pretty heavy
weight on the Blacks side to bring them
down to our position
I must own this kind Of logic ve1ed
me q little. l knew pretty well how
Black stood commercially, and I told
Sally there wasn't q feathers weight on
his aide, 90 far as the iavors Of fortune
we're concerned. "lfhe has a mind to live
above his means" said /, ahe can do Ii
and take the consequences"
aHe has Just Is good Q right TO live
above his means,n said Sally, "as you have
to live beneath yours"
This was her Parthian arrow Is l went
out the door, and Il ranked q little all
the way down in the train, the more
sharply that ] found Black the center Of
an aamiripg bevy at the depot. He had
quite an imposiDg makeup and q glib
tongue, which he used in inyeighlng
against our system Of paving. He COM
planned Of the condition Of q good many
things in our young township, and seem.
ed to gain popularity with every fault
that he found. At last he spied me, and
was exceedingly loud and elusive in his
salutation.
aHallo, Brown !" he said, shaking my
hand again and again, and declaring
to the people about him l was an old
friend whom he was glad to unearth.
eve run you down, you sly fox. That's
q very snug little place around the corner
very snug indeed
wouldn't have believed II possible !
could have been such an ass as 10 feel fat.
tered by this familiarity Of Blacks, but !
found myself smirking and noddipg with
great complaeency. Here were at least
half a dozen Of the gentry about me who
lived In big houses in my neghborhood,
that l had been going up and down to the
city with for yearsy yet scarcely knew
them we'll enough for an exchange Of
ciyilities, and here was Black already
hand In glove with the finest ofthem. II
makes me sick now when | remember
that ! turned my back on poor old White,
and went tosdying OF with aristicracy.
| White lived in even u smaller house
than mine, and had hard enough work to
pay for that. He had failed Ia business
some years before, and don't know what
they would have done without their boy
Bob. He was with me In the city, and
knew that q goodly portion oil the lads
earnings were given over TO the support
Of the house. It was rather hard for Bob,
but he bore his lot with great resignation,
He came over pretty often TO have = game
OF cribbage and talk over business mat
tiers with me, and I found him sharp
enough at both. Then he had q pleasan,
way with the women. Our little Rosalie
was little more than 4 child, but Sally
used To brighten up when Bob came in
till she got into that kink about the
Blacks.
HYou'll stay here with Rosalie, won't
you, Bob, till we come baek?' l said TO
young White; and as l spoke Ifelt Sally
give q savage pinch to my arm. No soon
er were we outside the door than she be-
gan about poor Bob.
"Ifyou have no regard for your daugh'
ter's future, and choose to throw her
away on q poor miserable beggar like
| Bob White began Sally.
awhy, my dear" I broke in, Rosalie'S
a mere child. Don't begin to plan about
her future, ! beg OF you. She's scarcely
left off her pinatores, and II ever there
was maiden meditation, fancy free,' any
where, 1t lies in the brown eyes OF on
RosAlie."
By this time we had reached the impo.
sing portal OF Blacks house, and were
soon ushered into the presence OF the
satin damask and ebony. Blacks children
we're none Of them grown, but were pre-
cocious enough TO take the lead In CONVEX
sation; and we sat for 4 whole mortal hour
and listened 10 the eldest girl hammer
out upon the piano what Mrs. Black
called "a reyerie." / was glad wher
Black took me into his library, where
there were some good cigars and some
pretty fair wine, and We left the women
70 themselves.
But a goodly quantity Of poison va.
infused into Sally's system and mine be.
fore we left the big luxurious house, and
We went home together as changed @ Il
touched BY the rod OF IN enchanter.
aDear mel' said Sally, what 4 little
cubby.hole this Isl I declare It's quite
like q baby housed"
aPdlike TO have a library like Blacks
said /, taking up the refrain. RS nice
TO have room" / continued to Bob
White, q where 4 man can take his friends
It would be far pleasanter, for instance
II you and / could have our game Of crib
bage without the continual gable OF wo
man In nuP aaran