Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-11-23
HIS HAT AND ROOTS.
The Marvellous Adventures of Nyr. No.
HOns

HOW THE BACHELOR DAYS OF MRS. DEMTTT s
FAvORITE LODGER CAME TO AN END.
Mr. Nowon was prudent. middle-aged gen.
tleman who used to pick his way carefully
through the streets when he went out, so that
he might jOstle nobody; but one rainy morning.
being in hurry to catch the Notting-hil omni-
bus to the city, he was SO unfortunate as to run
with his umbrella against tall, lean man. whom
he showed Off the pavement into puddle What
happened then was destined to remain engraved
as the most remarkable episode in Mr.. Nowon's.
until then, uneventful life.
~ beg your PARDON" muttered Mr.. Nowon.
contritey
"Confound you." answered the tall lean man,
with an Infatuated glance at his despatched
neither garments.
II am really very sorry" repeated our pru-
dent friend.
Instead of being satisfied with this quite suf
fcient apology the tall. lean man laid hold of
Mr.. NOwOn'S collar and cursed him-not a mon
Osyllabic curse. mind you. but a long rolling
curse. In great many sOnOrous periods. and
delivered with a terrifying amount Of action.
Inc lll-nannered stranger clenched his fist and
shook it under Mr.. NowOn'S nose. There were
several people looking on, and they were
amazed. Mr.. NOwOn became idiotic from sur
prise, and at last. when the stranger pushed him
away. the poor gentleman tottered off with the
parting words of the curse ringing i'm his ears:
IL.
lean man. 81 curse you from your hat to your
boots included"
The punishment really exceeded the offence.
ana Mr. NowOn, as he climbed into the bus, got
some rough sympathy from the conductor. II
expect that party is drunk sir to which Mr.
Nowon answered: Il am afraid that lie is not
quite right in his head. Did you hear him say
that he cursed my hat and boOts?"
That evening. when he returned to his house
at Notting-hll, MIR. Nowon was pensive He
had h.,a, n \
elaborate curse. and in relating the account of
1t to his lady hOusekeeper, Mrs. Dcmitt he con-
fessed that it had made him uncomfortable. It
SO happened, however, that Mrs. Demitt was
lust then out of humOr with Mr.. NOwOn. staid
widow of thirty-five, still gOOd-lOOking, she had
TIL lately cherished hopes that she might be-
come her masters wife; but Mr.. NowOn had
taken it into his midde-aged head to fall in
love with certain Miss Jenny KOy a chit of
twenty. whose manners were by no means 80
bashfui as to justify her patrOnymic. Where
fore Mrs. Denitt was displeased and vOuchsafed
but little pity when she had heard Mr. NOwon's
story,
II should be sorry to have been cursed like
that. she answered, cOldly. as she presided
over the dinner table. 81 have always found
something unpleasant result from curses
II wish you would not say that. Mrs. Demtt"
exclaimed poor Mr.. NOwon, piteously. "You
know am rather nervous and-and-"
Il only said that l should not like to be
cursed, Mr.. NOwOn."
but you said that you had always found IN
pleasantness result from curses N.Y.
self, l rather believe in the old saying that
curses come home to rOost"
They may do that: but they may cause con-
siderable mischief before roostng time"
Il don't think this is kind of you Mrs Demitt"
replied Mr. NOwon, dolefully. and he made a
poor dinner after that Luckily, he had been
invited to tea at the Koys' house. and there he
found all the comfort he wanted Jenny KOy
laughed merrily at the notion of his hat and
boots being cursed. but seeing he was anxious
sne prayed nm some nice tunes, and assured
him that he was too good man for curses to
have any effect upon him. Thus solaced. Mr.
NoWon made up his mind to propose to Miss
hoy on the next Sunday evening. He put off
the ceremony till then because he ALWAYS wore
MS pest Clothes On Sundays. and looked smarter.
The next day nothing of Importance took
place, but on the day following truly strange
thing occurred. Mr.. NowOn, in putting on his
boots discovered that they were too small for
him. Now our friend had two pairs Of weekday
boots which he wore turn about. The day on
which his boots were cursed was Monday and
he did not put on that days boots again till
Wednesday. But on Wednesday they pinched
him. What is stranger when he came to put
on his hat, he discovered that it had undergone
change like the boots. Instead of sitting
easily On his brow, it joted on the top of his
head.
what is the matter with yOu?" asked Mrs
Demitt, as she stood in the hall and eyed his
blank cOuntenance.
CT think my hat and boots are too tight"
replied Mr.. Nowon obviously. as he turned lis
hat over to see il it were really his own.
Are not those the hat and boots that were
cursed?" asked the lady -housekeeper, in her I'M
genial tone.
Really Mrs. Demitt I am ashamed of YOU"
exclaimed Mr. NOwon. and he marched angriIy
out of the house. At the door his hat was in
stantly blown off by the wind. and he was
obliged to scamper after it down the road in his
tight boots, which made him hobble. You NAV
be sure that he thought Mrs. Demtt a very
foolish woman for her alluson to the curse but
it was none the less fact that his boots hurt
him wOcfully all day. and that his thoughts
rOamed away continually from his city business.
He at length made up his mind that his hat aud
boots must have been affected by the damp Of
Mondays rain
But on the next day. Thursday. poor Mr.
Nowon's hat had sl,runk to the size of a school
boys. and as for his boots, Mrs. Demitt coming
into the dining room with Mondays pair on a
tray called his attention to the further shrink
Ing they had undergone i'm the night Even
Jenny koy could not have inserted her little
foot into them now. Mr.. NowOn stood dumb
founded. He had to put on an old hat to go
into the city, and on his way bought new one:
but he ate no luncheon that day. and was a
melancholy man. His theory about the damn
would no longer hold water. There could be
on his hat and boots. and if this were so. it
must be evident that the other part Of the NAL
edictiOn which concerned himself personally
would be fulfilled in time. On his return home
Mr.. NOwOn walked with a tagging STEP and
ordered that his shrinking hat and boots might
be locked up in a cupboard, and be put away
out of sight He scarcely spoke word during
dinner, and ate no meat.
The hat and boots were locked I'D, and a
wretched week went by. Mr.. NOwon was brood
ing over typhoid fevers, rheumatism. broken
legs. failures of banks. and other dismal posi-
biIities. His nerve and appetite were gone He
dared no longer propose to Miss Key lest
he should drag this poor innocent girl into shar-
ing his blight; but. remaining always a prudent
man, he made will in which he left her every
thing he possessed When, however seven
days had passed without bringing him any acct
dent, Mr.. NowOn took heart again slightly. and
one morning he ventnred to ask Mrs. Demitt to
let him look into the cupboard where the hat
and boots were. They went to the cupboard
together, and there both recoiled with stupefac-
ton. You have seen the little hats and boots
they put on dOlls-weil, Mr. NOwon's hat and
boots were no bigger than these. They hardly
weighed three ounces between them.
'.Well, l neyer." exclaimed Mrs. Demitt, in
an altered voice. and she suddenly glanced at
her master. ''Why, 1 declare you are shrink
ing too"
"Now, please don't. faltered the poor wretch
Rut If was q fact He had eaten so little and