The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-10-16
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AObfrtiser
OCTOBER 16.
NICK Won DAM

paTallel-the houses on one side aouttlng
with their ~back-yards upon the houses OF the
other; for even palatial mansions, with
brownstone fronts, have their back-yardsl
where clothes are hung to dry, and where
aristocratic children are permitted TO play.
Some twenty or more years ago the scene
Of this true story opens, IN the back-yards
of two elegapt homes thus situated. One
morning. a fine. manly boy of twelve was on
one side and a beautiful little cu~rly-haired
darling. saw five years old, on the other
side Of a high, close, board fence. The
fence had a knot-hole in it. The boy was
tying a tin can to the tail of a struggling
Maltese cat that had clambered over the
dividing fence, and the girl, with flushed
face and swapping, angry eyes, was looking
through the knot hole. 1t was her cat.
As soon as our little lady had fairly
taken in the situation, she called through
the fence, with her p%outing lips to the hole {:
Il say, you boy, have you seen my kitty 2"
No" he replied.
You are a nasty, bad boy, and tell
stories you have got my kitty: and if you
don't give her back to me, I'll build a fire
and burn your playhouse down."
This was not an idle threat, for our
~youngster on the Fifth Avenue side had a
a playhouse, supplied with toys and curios
and play-things. provided by his rich father
and indulgent mother as an inducement for
their only and petted child not to mingle
with the vulgar playmates of the streets.
81 say, who are you ?" asked the boy.
"Never you mind-give me my kitty"
IL will if you will kiss me-"
Kiss you through the fence 2" and she
laughed a silveIy, ripping laugh.
Yes, through the k~not-hole."
:" Well, give me my kitty first"
"No, give me the kiss first
viii you give me my kitty then ?"
Yes, truly"
q" Well, put your mouth to the hole"
And to the hole he placed his face, and
received the smack of a sounding kiss.
There, now give me the kitty
He did so. The little thing, scrambling
over the fence, was soon safe in the arms of
its little mistress. She kissed it again and
again, while the boy looked on.
q say, it's nasty to kiss a cat"
"A cat is not so nasty as a great. nasty
boy"
"Yes, it is; and I played a joke on you,
for you kissed me on my nose"
"Only | didn't for didn't kiss you at
all. 1 spit on my fingers and rubbed them
on your nose, and then smacked my lips
didn't 1, kitty?" Again she laughed a loud
and merry laugh.
The boy turned away with an angry
1ush-threatening to " get even"
The children, whose silly episode we de-
scribed in our last chapter, grew up-as
children usually do. Miss Lillian was sent
to school, passing her bread-and-butter days
at Vassar, growing up to become a saucy
beauty of spoiled nineteen. Our hero OF
the cat had graduated and studied his pro-
fession and travelled in Europe, and was
sowing his fathers money-as young gen.
tlemen who have no knowledge of the
trouble of m~oney-getting are apt to do.
From time to time-She from school and he
from college, she from her, and he from his,
European tour-had visited their respective
homes in their respective avenues but had
never met. Nor did the now widowed
mother of the fair Lillian know even the
names of the family of Won Damenbergs,
whose only son Nicholas had had his nose
spit upon through the knot-hole of the divi-
sion fence. Years went flying by. To
young people years fly. but are long to old
people years drag, but are short. These
young folk were killing time. Lillian was
drifting about the world with her gentle,
quiet ulOlHcIY VIII lOulu IL du GdSieE lie 10
be dragged about by her imperious daugh-
ter than to remain at home with her. Nick
was abroad, on his own hook; sometimes
yachting among the fords of Norway, and
sometimes shooting on the plains of upper
Montana.
At last both parties met-at the Califor-
MIA Geysers. Nicholas Won Damenberg,
with two companions in shooting.jackets
baI arriyaI from n q scoot oro,ol w..
Lake" They had arrived, guns in hand, in
advance of their luggage, and as yet had not
registered. Mrs. Margaret Mercer and her
daughter, Mrs. Lillian Mercer, were estat-
Iished guests.
The Geysers are famous for aids to COM
plexion. If the MERGERS had visited for any
such purpose as improving theirs, it must
nave been for the brown and quiet mother
and not for the blooming maid. As for Nick
and his comrades, they were black-and-tan-
ned and burned and Drowned beyond the i'm
mediate relief of any of natures cosmetics.
The hero and heroine of this our little
love story met upon the piazza-she, sweep
ing along in the peculiarly queenly and re-
gal majesty of a nineteen.year-old girl, with
good clothes, a beautiful figure, pretty face,
plenty of money, and consciousness of good
birth, good education, good manners, and
an assured position in the best society /; |
Nick. with his shootingjacket, bare head,
and brown face, was preparing to clean his
gun, and, being heart whole, fancy free, and
quite independent in his mode of life and
name of thought. was just the least degree
careless about his department. He saw our
beauty sweeping down upon him, and, by a
OF inspiration, OWNED that she was the
same little girl, grown up, who had kissed,
or had not kissed, his nose through the
-ence, when he had endeavored to bell her
at with a tin can at its tail.
As she came down upon him, she stopped.
Are you one of the servantsf"
81 am your servant, miss, if you please.
What can do for your"
81 mean, do you belong to the house d"
Eyes, | am the outdoor man-sort of
guide | take parties fishing and picnicking
70 the woods | drive the phaeton for ladies
who are too timid to drive themselves, and |
60 out with ladies on horseback"
- What 4 : -otrr ~ -la-eo . Il