Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-12


imous in their choice of the "best brandy"
They repeated their order several times,
and SO lifted their voices as to be
heard over large part of the room. Their
principal subject seemed to be women.
Royden inquired: "How about that
pretty, dark-eyed girl. Ned. you had at
the Schiller Garden. the other evening !?
You thought nobody saw you. Sly fellow
you are p
''Now, Phil, don't give me away She
is pretty, and devilish fond of me, too.
She isn't altogether elegant-she wouldn't
do for the Avenue but I like her style.
She's awfully good company delightful
change from the prim, overtrained girls Of
our set.
"Where did you pick her up, Ned 2
asked another of the quartet.
"In the Bowery. Joe Barker, Fred
Comstock and myself, were out, one night,
for lark, about month ago, and We
heard music in the National Assembly
Rooms. Here's ball. we said, and We
can have some fun there In we went,
and we were soon dancing with three of the
prettiest shop.girls in the room. Bessie
fell to my lot, and was SO sweet
on her that she told me her whole history,
and told her some of mine. She said
she liked me because l was a gentleman ;
and swore loved her because she was 80
pretty. I fattered her awfully. I prom
ised to go and see her, and you can bet
your bottom dollar I have done so. The
plebeian male element got excited over our
success with the girls. They declared that
we put on too much style. One of them
insulted Joe Barker, and Joe struck him.
That brought on fight. We were hustled
out. but not much hurt, and, hearing the po.
lice comingup, we weranaway to avoid thelock.
up. Fred got ia black eye, and having to at
tend prayer-meeting of the Young Mems
Christian Union the next night-his father
had given hin $500 to join the young
Christians-he told touching story how a
ruffian had beaten him for protecting a
poor, but virtuous girl, whom the ruffian
had accosted in the street. Fred was re-
garded as the moral hero of the occasion.
and the Governor handed him 500 for
championing innocence. Fred is hunting
up black eyes now, ha! ha he ! but I
keep mine-dear Bessie-on tap"
"Now that I've told my tale, Phil, give
us yours. I've heard it once. 1t shows
what gay deceiver you are. She's a
sumner"
"Who? What are you talking about ?"
"Why, the last girl you fell in love
with"
''The last There must be half a dozen.
You don't expect man to be in love with
only one woman at time, do you?"
8: Pshaw, Phil, mean the ballet god.
dess, whose Olympus is the stage of
Niblo's."
"Now understand. Christina is nice
girl. She is of German extraction, well
educated and quite genteel. Her father
was a first.rate mechanic, and got on very
well-for a mechanic. So Christina in.
forms mel have no knowledge of such
canaille myself. But her father died; her
two brothers are married, and live some
where in the West, and her mother hurt
her spine, and became an invalid. Chris
tina had to support her mother and herself
by sewing-she's very skilled with her
needle but she could make barely four
dollars by working day and night. The
work was killing her. She saw an adver-
tisement in the newspapers for ballet girls,
and answered it. AS she is deucedly
pretty, and has superb figure, she finally
got IS elk, and was enabled to earn 81
or S3 more with her needle. This was the
condition of things when saw her first in
spectacle at Niblo's, at the beginning Of
the season. She attracted my fancy at
once. managed to make her acquaintance
by writing to her, telling hE that wanted
to help her in an honorable way, and ex-
pressing the greatest respect for her. She
was very coy at first; but, after few
weeks, she let me escort her home. | made
her number Of presents, which she sent
back i; but persisted in my suit until 1
had gained her confidence and af-
fection. She now loves me devotedly-
she ought to; for gentleman
of my stamp does not often
woo girl OF the people like her. / am
fond of Christina, but wish she didn't
love me quite go much-it's troublesome
sometimes. But mustn't say any more.
Gentlemen, you know, are bound by the
rules of honor. Let's have some more
brandy, boys We've all been drinking
very light. Ring the bell, joe
"For Heavens sake, let US get out of
here, Archer" suddenly exclaimed Good
win. "Tve been trying not to hear the
talk of those internal puppies; but it is
impossible to shut out their chatter.
They're half tipsy, / am aware but how
can they talk SO, and lay the slightest
claim to being gentlemen? If they were
still in their teens, there might be some
shadow Of excuse for them but the
youngest is at least twenty-five, and they
have all, I infer, been decently reared"
They went into another room. cas- Royden
says, Oscar, there are gentlemen and gen.
tlemen. How fortunate this is for him !"
"We are continually hearing, Archer,
that no one not gentleman can
be elected to this or that club.
The Rensselaer, prides itself, believe, on
admitting nobody to membership not
strictly gentleman"
Yes; that is the assumption but it is
all rot. There are gentlemen, l fatter
myself, in the Rensselaer, but many of the
members have no conception Of the char
acter. Some of them are devoid of any
sense of honor. It's the same in all the
clubs it's as true of London and Paris as
of New York.