The Red Cloud chief., 1881-09-01
GAN OLD NUISANCE"

Mind, | quote those three words.
They are none of mine. Only, thinking
over three or four equally appropriate
titles, | chose the one i use as being
the oldest; and | always had a fancy
for odd things. And now for my story.
On what my aunt (bY marriagc) and
her family founded their claims to
%nristocracv | never could discover. Ny
uncle had beer n merchant, IL is true,
and one Of considerable prominence il
hisday, have been told, and so had been
his father before him, and his fathers
father before that. That his business
in his most prosperous time was in
iimatcly connected with China is i'm
pressed upon my mind q became an
inmate OF his house when | was about
six years of aye, in consequence of the
death of both my parents within a week
of each other, leaving Inc with no means
of support, and no other relatiyc) by the
fact that every first of June saw bright
new mattings laid on our floors. foreman
there until cold weather came again,
and :ilat cur mantcls and what-nots
Tcdecorated with many pretty, dainty
little porcelain cups, thin rs egg-shells
-raritics in those days, but in these
plenty and cheap enough.
Now, according to all 1 have learned
on the subject, rcatgsimon pure aristo-
Gratis look down uDon trade ever of the
rrandest scale, and never have any
thing TO do with il further than once
in a whilo marrying one 0f its Sons or
daughters who have come into posses
E on of millions enough TO offset the
honor.
However, our family q ventured to
include myself, non of my cousins
being within hearing) assumed all the
airs of the ''blue bloods" of the Old
country.
Eleanor, our second, wore a look of
deep Indignation for several DAYS after
Il manly, clever, goOd-loOking fellow,
the brother of il of her old school
mates, with n comfortable income, but
who was the junior partner of a firm
keeping a retail store on Sixth Avenue,
proposed for her hand.
1.-The presumption of the man, she
exclaimed, raising her arched eyebrows
in establishment, and curling her full,
red upper lip in scorn: ITO imagine for
q moment that because ! honored him
with my company TO the opera two or
three times, | would marry him! IL his
business had bcen wholesale. il would
lave been bal enough; but fancy n
person who sells pins and needles by
The paper, and lace by the yard! Never,
] would die first"
Minerva, our fourth, was equally
hprror-Stricken at the eirontery of a
Young book keeper whom her brother
Laurence had introduced into the fami-
IL circlc-a rare thing for one of her
brothers 10 do, for, like all other men,
rs far as INV limited experience goes,
they scarcely ever thought their COM
panions 10 he good enough to be the
companions of their SiStcrS-when no
ycntured TO express his admiration for
her. The young man soon after sue
ccedcd 20 4 very handsome property,
and became n great swell-.a perfect
too-too," rs | believe the fashionable
way of expressing il now is-a kind of
being after Minerva's Owl heart; but
she was never invited 10 ride behind
his fast horses. and, what was much
worse, never again asked to take the
head of his table.
And in like manner the graceful and
enthusiastic professor of music, the
stout, good-natured proprietor of the
extensive iron-works wholesale ana
retaiE'') on the next block, the young
artist, who has since risen to wealth and
fame, and sundry others, all falling
short of the aristocratic standard set
UP BIZ our family. were snubbed bv nv
lady cousins. aided by their brothers,
and not wholly unassisted BY their
mother. 1 never had had, at the time
this story commences, being then in nv
eighteenth year, a chance to snub any
one; for, lacking the personal attrac-
tions of my relatives, as well as their
"high-toncd" natures-truth to tell,
having decidedly democratic tenden-
cics-I was kept in the background on
all occasions.
Let il be remarked in passing that
Eleanor eventually married, when rath-
er an old girl, a widower in the milk
business very wholesale, however
the father of four children. At the
same time Minerva, n few years young
er, deigned TO become the wife of an
elderly bachelor, something or other in
a shoe mandatory. But they held
their heads rs high as ever, and declared
lltN llstu SsItltiICu lliCllStlNSS loI the
family, uncle having failed for the Sec
ond time-through no fault of his own.
dear old man. few months before the
double wedding.
That their sacrifice" was for the
good of the family L don't deny; but
there still were left at home 10 be taken
care of after Their departure three old
maids, n Young one, and two helpless
young men. who, having been brought
up 10 do nothing, did it t. perfection.
After the failure, uncle got a situation
as superintendent of one of the many
departments in the large establishment
of the gentleman who sold "pins and
needles by the paper, and lace by the
yard" Che wa now head of the firm,
and had a pretty, lady-like wife and
two pretty chiidreu), and we dismissed
one OF our servants and moved into q
much smaller house.
But in spite of all our efforts at econ
omy our income proved vastly made
quate to our expenses. and this was the
cause of so much hewailing and be-
moaning that our house seemed to be
bereft of all gladness and sunshine.
And n evening, after Ethel. u
youngest odupulcT. Hdu UurSl lutO 6ttTS
because aunt had declared it would be
impossible TO have ice-cream merin-
CUES, wine %iellies, and similar dainties
every day for dessert, for the two suffi-
Gent reasons that we couldn't afford
them and u present cook couldn't
make them, L ventured to suggest to
the weeping damsel that if she found
life positively unbearable without the
aforementioned Injuries Gall the kg-
berts, by-the-bve, were e~xtravagantly
fond of good things to eat}, she might
knit and crochet some of the worsted
articles she was in the habit of making
s artistically for herself, and sell them
to"-Mr. Lee, uncle's employer, l was
about to say, when I was interrupted by
a shrill shrek.
..Work for q store" she cried. I'D
starrs first"
You wretched girl!" added my
aunt. s.How dare you even think OF
such a thing? Ethel, my darling, calm
yourself"