Jamestown alert., 1880-11-09
The RED FLAG At No, 50,

The RED FLAG At No. So.
Mrs. Gray to Mrs. Thompson
Cousin Ned, from California, Nevada
New Mexico, and all other places be.
yond the Rocky mountains, has beer
paying us visit. You know lust what
n jolly good soul Ned always was, an6
he is just as jolly now-as why should
he not be, with an income Of Sc, 900 o.
$1,000 year? Beside that my poo,
Georges 1900 hides its diminished
head. He is handsomer than ever, toe
the same merry brown eyes and chest.
nut hair but in addition an appearance.
an air so altogether distingue that our
neighbors all go to their windows to
gaze after him. Well, doyou know, the
moment he appeared I set my heart on
him for o,r dear old friend Adelaide,
who shall not waste her sweetness on
the desert air if can help it. You
know I always had fancy for match
making, though, to confess the truth,
I have never yet scored a success in that
line; my two predestined afinities al
ways fly off at a tangent just as I flatter
myself it is an toit accon7pN. (You
will perceive have not forgotten quite
all the French we learned together at the
Riverside Seminary. Notwithstanding
my years Of devotion to pies and pud-
dings, I will keep little Of it out Of re-
spect for the memory of poor Mademoi-
selc Laurent, who worked so hard to
drill it into me.)
But Adelaide and Ned have been cor
responding year or two +; he speaks of
her with great respect-as how could he
otherwise, of course ?-and have fondly
hoped that bis mission to the East may
have more relation to the affairs of the
heart than to mining stocks, as he pre-
tends,
weeks ago, Ned and were sitting il, the
dining-room alone the children had
started for school, and George had kissed
me and gone down town, after an hours
talk about ranches, blrros, and gulches,
and canons. Now that was alone with
our visitor, the conversation took con-
fidential turn, bordering on the senti-
mental, and, in pursuance of the idea
uppermost in my mind, I told him 1
thought it mysterious, providential, that
he had not fallen O victim to some bon
anza Princess, or some bewitching
Senorita, with no dover but her beauty.
"And, by the way" went on, ''what
was ever the trouble between you and
the Captains daughter?"
You remember, of course, Julia, how
much we heard at the time about that
affair-how, during the war, loved to
read to you, even during study hours,
the letters had received from Brother
Jim, stationed at Fortress Monroe, CIV
ing the details, in Jim's rather satirical
style, of the serious Irritation in progress
between Lieut.. Ned, OF Company G. and
Capt. Darrington's pretty daughter, Of
the regulars? And afterward, how
some way shadow came between them
nobody could tell how, only that Ned
was hasty, and had exaggerated ideas of
mans prerogatives, perhaps, and Miss
Darlington proud and shy. And so it
was forgotten.
And now this same Lieutenant, after
hairbreadth escapes from shot and shell,
and scalping Apaches, sat there in an
easy chair, by my Baltimore heater, and
actually turned pale because I mentioned
the "Captain's daughter y Love is in
deed la grande passion.
He had nothing to communicate, how
ever bade me consider we were always
great fools at 21, and likely at that time
to get caught in trap on the other
hand, to throw our chances of happi-
ness away, just as it chanced to be he
became silent, and I had not the heart
to rally him as he sat there watching the
floating smoke of his cigar, with far
off look in his eyes-knowing, as [ did,
that he had gone back fifteen years, and
that he was walking the moonlight
beach with pretty Lottie Darlington,
while the band of the regiment played
in the distance.
From the sublime to the ridiculous
it is always my fate, dear Julia. Bar
ney, the factotum of the neighborhood,
tapped at the window, and as I raised
the sash,
GA foine morning, num-" said he ;
"there's red flag out at No. 81, and
thought I'd be after comm to tell ye.
'Tis q foine house, and q foine Teddy,
more's the pity"
You see, Barney knows my weakness,
and he had seen me few days before
an animated bidder at an auction in the
neighborhood.
sThank you, Barney; think I'll be
on hand" I replied, closing the window.
CA foine leddy," to be SIRE; I had
often met her-a fair-faced woman ;
plainly and tastefully dressed, walking
with two charming children. Her house
seemed the abode of peace and comfort,
SO far as the passer-by could Judge, and
what could have compelled the breaking
ND of SO fine an establishment? At all
events I would not stop to speculate-.lt
was possible here was my opportunity
to secure handsome side-board at a
bargain. As I wished to be on hand in
time to look through the house before
the sale began, I asked Ned to have the
goodness to excuse me for an hour or so.
"Oh, will go with you, Mrs. Too
dies" he said quite gayly, and ran up
stairs for his hat and cane.
So off we went to No. 81, where the
flaming flag announced the desecratlon
of household gods. We were admitted
by the man in charge of the sale; and
such charming abode Not a down
right curiosity shop, the effect OF dec
orative art run mad, but such taste ant
ingenuity everywhere visible. People
with shrewd, hard faces, boarding-houst
keepers, secondhand men, eyine
the pretty engravings and pretty water
colors on the parlor wall, running thei1
greasy fingers over the keys of the piano
turning chairs topsy-turvey, and shaking
tables to see how firm on their legs the.