Litchfield enquirer., 1879-08-21
:. lFrom Harper's Magazine.l
 HOW THAT CUP SLIPPED,
70 "There's mauy a slip
 truyi~t fha .,Y, u.,H yha lin J1

T7 HOW THAT CUP SLIPPED. .' I'd
 +' 'There's mauy slip
 'rwixt the euk aud the lip"
 In Chicago But who would ever think of locating a romance in Chicago? and not only using that prosaic city, but selecting for it's hero quiet (except when in ''corner'') coal merchant My plea is this: romances locate themselves, and heroes are like murder-you never know when or where to prepare for them.a So it was in Chicago 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 A.. .''''[A. '- ''}'''-' 's.1
 Mr.. Strong, at date prior to the beginning of his romance, belonged to that army of mid dle-aged young men seldom visible to. a lady save at the theatre or occasionally on fMadi- son Street, or going up the steps of some boarding house. At the theatre they troop by tWos and threes to Lheir reserved seats ln all tue joyous freedom of ungloved hands, listen to the play, unless perchance they are distract ed by the sight of some former companion who is detected stealing guiltily in with pretty smiling girl, upon whom he lavishes bonbons and attentions, and never once, glances Tn the direction of his forsaken friends. They al ways hurry out between acts, not so much, l am convinced, for the sake of getting 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 crowded stage in crossing from one side of the city to the other. He cheerfufly resigns his place, you are made comfortable, and he hangs on to a strap and bumps his expensive beaver against the stage roof. Or, as l said before, you may see him mounting the steps of his boarding house. r...,.I T. lr;, els-fT
 It was in the latter case that Miss Jessie Boomer first saw MT. Strong. She had ar rived in Chicago one summer day by an after noon train, had taken warm bath and a re- freshing nap, had tossed her waving brown hair into an artistic mass, robed herself in a pale blue muslin, the delicate shade of which brought out every rose and lily of her pretty dimpled face, and at last had f1oated alrlly down stairs, and was standing at one of the parlor windows just as Mir. Strong, flaming himself with an evening paper, put his foot Some young fellows were lounging on the up per one, and word from caused him to look up. As he did so, the picture framed by the open window with it's shadowy lace drapery was SO dazzling that it caught his eyesat once, and he was overcome with embarrassment and shfflued clumsily .up,to the suppressed amuse- ment of the fellows at the top, who remarked that ''Strong seemed struck -..'' Now. it may naturally be asked how Miss Boomer came to invade the home of these commercial gentlemen. The answer is easily given. She was 6 young sister of Mrs, Jack Morin, who, with her husband, also boarded at No. 10. Now all the fellows in the house knew Mrs. Morin very we'll indeed, but ther easy manners, and 1t had not taken any cour. age to make her acquaintance. But it was a very different thing to have, a dainty bud of g girl suddenly settle down in one of the rather worn easy chairs of their parlor, and as she had come wi ithout warning, she was such a surprising apparition that she caused each one of the boarders to scuttle back from the parlol door, when he would have entered, and con verse in unusually low tones on the front steps. f -......., ..-...-.,,.,.f t.,...-}- ,., In the meantime Mir. Strong paused not to listen to the gibes of his companions, but hur- ried up to his room to arrange his dusty garb: for he was late, and the fumes of the were already mounting the basement stairs in an overloaded manner, and minging with the still warm air of late afternoon.
 When he re-anpeared tho scana had changed. and the household was assembled around the dinner table As he entered the dining room, Gordon, the wit of the house. had, with Jen- kins and Smith, the other boarders, been in- troduced, and was giving the new arrival a humorous catalogue of the sights which Chi cago offered, and which she must make a point of seeing.
 Miss Bloomer was thinking, just as Mr. Strong took his seat, that it must be very fun ny indeed to drive under river instead of over it, and she was thinking, too, that tun- nel must be rather a frightful place, especially at night, which gave Gordon chance to get off one of his naots (nOt altogether new to his fellow -boarders), to the effect that although it was good place for lurking robbers, they could hardly be called h4ghaoaynen, at which Miss Bloomer laughed sweetly, with her big eyes as we'll as her pretty lips. tl
 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 belated Jack Morin, who greeted his charming sister-in-law in 8 boisterous and brotherly fashion, giving her hearty kiss and hug when she sprang from her chair to meet him-a pro- ceeding 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 after himself she was the beauty of the family, every fork was silenced in rapt attention. . s.t,-Ef .- ....... . =.
 But must not finger 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 vied with the other in making her visit agree able. But,, oh, Messrs. Gordon, Strong, Jen- kins, and Smith, did you do as much for qni- ct, plain Miss Wyman when she, only twelve short months before, visited her cousin, your landlady, in this very house Where then was this lavish display of hospitality on your part2 Did she not broadly hint that she would like to go out to the ''crib,". and also see the interior of the shot-tower? And did she not say plainly that she was not afraid of horses, when you, Mir. Gordon. made sham show of regret that your swift trotters were not safe for 8 lady to drive behind r, And did not you, Mr. Jenkins, trump up a business visit to St. Louis rather than wait upon the ladies to the opera3r And as for Smith he ought to blush to his dying day when he re- calls the falsehood he concocted about the per ills of 2 trip out to the crib. And when did you,I Mir. Strong, ever lay aside your evening paper and banter Miss Wyman to beat you at a game of chess 1? Shame, shame upon, you all You know very. well that you allowed that poor young lady to have dismal visit in tuc Clby IOu dIC uSW mdhItIS SO flSCly luE ybulS rosy girl, slyith with her, her, beFitching smile and eyes,
 ButI resume my chronicle. For the frs: few evenings MT. Strong was, to all outwerd seem ing, true to his paper, but g close, observer might often have caught hlm looking over the top at the central figure. of the group around the card table. Especially was he distqau when a light, happy laugh called him away from politics and current prices, and pretty white hand reached out with childish petu, lance after a lost trick, . And he gave up all semblance of reading when g girIsh figure. perched itself upon the piano stool, ,and, waited patiently while that forward Jenkins tortured the the strings of his violin, and prepared to squeak out 2 yillainou compartment bnsls7 z Then came an evening when he stood back of Miss sBloomer'sn chair and gave her some useful hints on eucher-playing, which were most gratefully received After that he was often one of the four around the ever- present euchre table. H1ai3 ja ,t5ssiil.3 5sif r2 Qeu ie{
 About this time certain world-renowned prima donna began an engagement at ,M'Vick- CTS, and one evening Smith came home unusu. ally early, and spent an unusually long time over his toilet. A lit le later. a gorgeous and expensive boquet arrived, and was sent up to