The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1879-09-17
MR.. BEvEL's HOBBY.

1t was in quaint, old-fashioned
quarter of London that old Mr.. Bevel
lived. He had been young, Mr.. Bevel.
in his time, when the quarter was not
so quaint. nor the street so shabby,
though even then the irresistible reiluX
of fashion had begun tC set iE another
direction. But gentility fingered after
fashion was past, and when Mr.. Bevel
installed his bride in her new home, the
region was%till spoken of as "eminently
respectable" Alas nobody called it re-
spectacle now. The very fact of resi-
dence there implied a certain ignomy-a
fact understood and resented by all the
Bevel family except its bead. Even Mrs.
Bevel, who, when first transplanted
thither from her country surroundings,
had looked upol the London residence
as unspeakable promotion, regarded it
now with a contemptuous disfavor,
which was instigated and egged on by
her sons and daughters.
." 1t is really quite too bad" declared
Maud, the eldest born and beauty of the
family. "Im absolutely ash med to
let Arthur come and see me. 1t might
be enough to lose him his place in
society,"
Arthur" was Maud's fiancee, Arthur
Brook, and the society thus imposingly
alluded to consisted of his fellow clerks
in one of tho lesser public ofiices-a linn
tied though stylish" circle in the
neighborhood of fWestbourne Grove,and
an oft-quOted second-cousinship to that
city magnate Peter Brook, of Lombard
street and Lancaste9gate, whilom Lord
Mayor of London, and great man in
his own set The readiness of young
man so connected to show him u occa-
siOnally in such locality as that inhab-
tied by his lady-love and her family
could not be regarded as less than conde
scensien. Maud felt it; the boys felt it;
ody felt. it except that insensible
Il in whose hands lay the power to
stay and the power to 60. Mrs. Bevel
felt it also, but she deemed it her duty to
protest against Maud's remark.
My dear, you are foolish to talk so.
Arthur is quite too sensible to mind
where we live, am sure.".
Nothing of the sort, mamma. He
nlipds great deal. There is nothing he
hates like an omnibus. and cabs all this
distance are an inlmense expense. He
ought not to take them half so often rs
he does" For all her blue, sleepy eyes
and fluff of golden hair, pretty Maud had
a keen eye for the main chance.
es, and the most provoking thing
about it is that if pa would only stop
buying those ridiculous old things he is
so fond sf, we could go where we liked
and live like other people, remarked
Matilda, the next girl in age, casting a
look of displeasure round the room. 1t
was a hideous room, Matilda thought,
o d-timy and queer; but to an artist it
would have been a treasure-trove, Il very
paradise of quaint and picturesque and
valuable disorder.
For old Mr.. Bevel's hobby was bric-a-
brac, and the house was stuffed with his
acquisitions through forty years of prac-
tice. Like all pioneers in special lines OF
taste, he suffered the fate of being re-
garded by his contemporaries as little
better Than maniac. With him the
taste was inborn. He had been a cOllec-
tor before his marriage, twice collector
since. Beginning in those early days
when there were few competitors in the
Rart. he had worked the rich mine thor
ykughly before others became aware of its
value. Little by little his treasures had