Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-09-05
HOW THAT CUP SLIPPED.
g There's many u slip

'Twixt the cup and the lip.n
In Chicago. But who would evel
think of locating romance in Chcagol
and not only using that prosaic city
but selecting for its hero quiet lex.
cept when in " corner'') coal mer.
chaptP My plea is this: romances locate
themselves, and heroes are like murder
you never know when or where &c
prepare for them. So it was in Chicae
that the cup was lifted, and quiet,
bashful Mr.. Strong, who knew far more
about the different kinds of coal than
he did about WOMEN, whose unsteady
hand let it fall.
Mr.. Strong, at date prior to the be-
ginning of his romance, belonged 10
that army of middle-aged Young men
seldom visible to lady save at the
theatre, or occasionally on Madison
street, or going rp the steps of some
boarding house. At the theatre they
troop by tTos and threes to their re-
served Seats in all the joyous freedom
OF ungloved hands, listen to the play,
Unless perchance they are distracted by
The sight of some former companion
who is detected stealing guiltily in with
a pretty smiling girl, upon whom
he lavishes bonbons and attentions.
and never once glances in the
direction of his forsaken friends.
They always hurry out between
acts, not so much, l am convinced,
for the sake of getting a drink,
as to escape into the open air, and
chuckle over the capture of Brown. Or
(presuming my reader to be lady)
you are at another time indebted to one
of this band for seat in a crowded
stage in crossing from one side of the
city to the other. He cheerfully re-
signs his place, you are made comfort
able, and he hangs on to a strap and
bumps his expansive beaver against the
stage roof. Or, as l said before. you
may see him mounting the steps of his
boarding house.
1t was in the latter case that Miss
Jessie Bloomer first saw Mr.. Strong.
She had arrived in Chicago one sum-
mer day by an afternoon train, had
taken a warm bath and a refreshing
nap, had tossed her waving brown hair
into an artistic mass, robed herself in
pale blue muslin, the rose and lilv of
her pretty dimpled face, and at last
had foated ailily down stairs, and was
standing at one of the parlor windows
Just as Mr.. Strong, tanning himself
with an evening paper, put his foot
upon the lower step of his boarding
house. Some young fellows were
lounging on the upper one, and word
from them caused him to look up. AS
he did so, the picture framed by the
open window with its shadowy lace
drapery was so dazzling that it caught
his eyes at once, and he was overcome
with embarrassment, and shuf1ed
clumsily up, to the suppressed amuse-
ment OF the fellows at the top, who re-
marked that "Strong seemed struck"
NOW 1t may naturally be asked how
Miss Bloomer came to invade the home
OF these commercial gentlemen. The
answer is easily given. She was a
young sister of Mrs. Jack NORM, who.
with her husband, also boarded at No.
10. Now all the fellows in the house
knew Mrs. NORM very well indeed,
but then she was forty years old, had a
double chin and easy manners, and it
hao not taken any courage to make her
acquaintance. But it was a very differ
ent thing to have dainty bud of a girl
suddenly settle down in one of the
rather worn easy-chairs of their parlor.
and as she had come without warning
she was such a surprising apparition
mat she caused each one of the board
ers 10 scuttle back from the parlor
door, when he would have entered, and
converse In unusually low tones on the
front steps.
In the meantime Mr.. Strong paused
not to listen to the gibes of his COM
panions, but hurried up to his room to
rTe-arrange his dusty garb; for he was
late, and the fumes of the dinner were
already mounting the basement stairs
In an overheated manner, and mingling
with the still warm air of late after
noon.
When he re-appeared the scene had
changed, and the household was assem-
oled around the dinner table. As he
entered the dining-room, Gordon, the
VIII OF the house, had, with Jenkins and
smith, the other boarders been intro
duced, and was giving the new arrival
humorous catalogue of the sights
which Chicago offered, and which she
must make apoint of seeing.
Miss Bloomer was thinking, just as
Mr.. Strong took his seat, that it must
pe very funny indeed to drive under a
river instead of over it, and she was
thinking, too, that a tunnel must be
rather a frightful place, especially at
night. which gave Gordon a chance to
get off one of his nlOts (not altogether
new to his fellow boarders,) to the eff
feet that although it was a good place
for lurking robbers, they could hardly
be called htghlOGymen, at which Miss
Bloomer laughed sweetly, with her big
eyes as well as her pretty lips.
Somehow Mr.. Strong felt irritated
with Gordon and his old Jokes, and
when he in his turn had been Introduced
to the young lady, he chose to turn the
conversation into grave, even gloomy
channel. But fortunately gayety was
restored by the timely entrance of be-
lated Jack NORM, who greeted his
charming sister-in-law in a boisterous
and brotherly fashion, giving her a
hearty kiss and hug when she sprang
from the chair to meet him-a proceed
ing which was watched with envious
eyes by the boarders. and when he
pulled one OF the long curls which
hung in her neck, and told her that
aIter himself she was the beauty of the
family, ever fork was silenced in rapt
attention.
But l must not linger too long over
this part OF my story, since it is only
the preface.
Not many days passed before Miss
Jessie was adored by the four bachelors.
Not one would have owned that he was
doing more for her than he would
cheerfully do for any lady visiting the
city for the first time, when each
We'd with the other in making
her visit agreeable. But, oh, Messrs'
Gordon, Strong, Jenkins, and Smith.
did you do as much for quiet.
plain Miss Wyman when she, only
twelve short months before, visited her
cousin, your landlady. in this very
bonse9 Where then was this lavish