The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-07-28

twenty-five dollars not cent more.
Why, | am wild Yth delight. So de-
lightfully antique regular Louis XIV.
chair"
| "a regular no uoh thing it is in
tens tensely modern, Id very vulgar at
"Why, tho manb Said it was Louis
XIV"
"What man ?"
'"Tho auctioneer.
'And you believd him."
"He could have 4 object in deceiving
We'll, he deceipd you without IN
object then"
"You are Away running down my
bargains" and theS was n fearful into
nation in my wife's voice as she threw
herself petulantly Of the so-callod Louis
XIV. chair.
A scream, a crash and clear over ono
side careened Louis XIV, while my wife
toppled over on tho other side. I flew
to her rescue and picked her up, and
while she sat down &n the sofa to cry I
examined the legs Of Louis XIV. They
were broken of, andSe I knew that my
wife's weight was MT sufficiently heavy
| to do 80 much mischief. A nearer ex-
| animation revealed he unpleasant fact
that Louis XIV. lhd damaged legs,
which had been glud q together, and the
mending not having proved very strong,
hence the accident.
"Well, l said to my wife, as held
up the two front Leg" what are you CO.
ing to do about it p
"Did break it, d you think ?" she
said, half sobbing
eyes, to be sure.'t
"Why, an not DO heavy. never
broke chair beforej''
"Well, you broke this before, that is
certain; here arc thetwo front legs, and
there stands (or rather leans) on It's two
hind legs, Louis XIV"
"I can't imagine how it happened, /"
and my wife gazed ruefully at the wreck
of Louis XIV.
'"The problem is easily solved. Louis
XIV. is old, without being an antique !;
the logs were damaged and glued on,
and they gave way. That's the unvar-
nished story. Take comfort you arc
not tho first woman who has been cheat
ed at an auction, and you'll not be the
last" gr
"Twenty-fve dollars thrown away.
That man deserves to be hung"
"Not at NIL. He did not tell you that
the chair was new; on the contrary, he
told you that the chair was old, md you
might have known that tho legs were
shaky."
"How was I to know ?"
"Well, don't go to any more auctions
and it won't happen again"
foI
tions in divers ways and places. Line
upon limo and prscept upon precept
were utterly lost upon her she followed
the red flag rs the soldier follows the
banner which leads to death or glory.
"Here," said my wife, as reached
the house one day hungry and tired,
''don't stop to put your Int down /
have a splendid set Of Beauvais china to
show you"
"What sort of china is that?"
"Don't you know? Why, at one time
Beauvais pottery was highly esteemed.
It was deemed present for kings and
queens"
"Ah p
ooh, you need not say 'Ah +"
"Well, what must I say ?"
"Admire it, of course. Gan anything
be more beautiful ?"
"I can't see it."
'"rwenty-five pieces. I wish they had
been more"
"You need not !: I think you have
enough cracked china"
"You are the most provoking person
have ever seen. Here is q rare collec,
ton of which anyone might be proud"
eyes, if they were making q collection
of cracked china, they might be. AS q
collector of cracked china, you are quite
q success"
My wife turned white as I held NJ
piece after piece and showd her tho
long and tho short cracks, the new ant
the old. She gasped out
IT gave thirty-tive dollars for tho
Beauvais ware and only to think of every
piece being cracked"
''Somewhat discouraging, of course
but you have this consolation, the ware
| is very common, very far from being
Beauvais if it was q finer quality i
would be painful in the highest degree
to sec it so utterly useless"
IT purchased it Mt the sale of the Brit
! ish consul" sobbcd my wife. "Who eve
dreamed of his having anything so com
mon."
"Well, You have the consolation O
knowing that you have something whicl
was used by the servants Of the British
consul"
The Beauvais china remained thor
in thc..heart Of my wife for many months
She laid it away in the back attic, whicl
was devoted to the storage of unfortunat'
purchases, and which now showed
strange medley. She was gradually Ga
thering enough to open q curiosity shop
There were chairs without backs ant
tables without legs there were cracket
looking glasses, china of every descrip
ton, including pictures, cups, dishes
vases, cuspadores--a thing neither sh
nor I had any use for. .....
There were queorly fashioned article
she called "antiquities," :" china dragons
glass unicorns, faded tapestry, broker
fans (said to be genuine Spanish), bras
jewelry (purporting to be Scythian)
sofas with two legs off and two on, moth
eaten and faded, which were designate,
by placard as having belonged to tn
| HFo~:o rl = =.