The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-03-02


bers of the Culture Club. 1t was true
that both Mr.. and Mrs. Simmons had
manifested an exasperating Indifference
as TO intellectual and aesthetic advance
ment, but they had agreed on the fol-
lowing Monday to have the first gath
ering." carefully STIMULATING in adj
vance that it was only to settle prelimi-
naries.
On the following Monday everybody
in Scramble was on hand, and Miss
Marthania, throned in an armchair, in
the most aesthetic costume and the most
imposing attitude she could command,
explained the object of the Culture
Club
The men, with the exception of John
Modica, were profoundly Indifferent,
but the women were eager for the meet
ings, though very vague and hay as to
what form of culture they were first to
direct their attention. Helen LOSING
ventured to suggest that they should
devote themselves to a course of read
ing, but Miss Marthania, who was any
thing but well-read, promptly vetoed the
idea.
Il have been thinking" said she,
blandly smiling upon her assembled
subjects, " that as so many of us are
engaged in commercial pursuits, Nj
mismatics' might be our first subject
Afterward we might pass onward and
upward to higher things"
"How?" said Mr.. Simmons, inquir-
ingly.
3 Numismatics, said Miss Martha
MIA.
"Darned if knew what that isl re-
piled the honest man, roundly.
Coinage, or rather the history of
coinage and antique COINS" said John
Modica.
"All right, Miss Marthy. H-hum-
what you call 'em have anything to do
with dollars and cents, I'm your man, -
said Mr.. Simmons, laughing unctuOus-
ly, and rafting his loose change in his
pockets.
So the matter was settled, greatly to
Miss Marthania's secret satisfaction.
| She knew about as much of numismat-
| les as she did of cattle-raising; but she
had accidentally come into possession
of a curious coin, and felt highly de-
/ lighted at the idea of displaying it.
/ When the eventful evening arrived
which was to inaugurate in very truth
/ the Culture Club, Miss Marthania was
in state of complete preparation. Her
small parlOr, stained a cold :" artistic"
gray, was duly adorned with pressed
/ leaves and dried grasses, with a plaster
copy of the Venus de Milo at one end,
and one of the Narcissus at the other,
one with a drapery of red flannel as q
/ background, and the other with purple
/ flannel, to give, as she said, the requisite
9 bits of color Three hideous kero-
sene lamps at once lighted the room and
made it pestiferOus. These lamps, how
ever, Miss Marthania had, as became an
apostle of culture, wreathed with dried
/ grasses, and she looked around her with
pride. Her manuscript, neatly copied
on cream-laid paper, and tied with
green ribbons, lay on the comfortable,
| and about this comfortable the chairs
were arranged. 1t looks" said Miss
Marthania to herself, . like the prepare
ton for a cabinet council" Indeed,
few queens probably ever felt so sub
lime a sense of their own importance as
did Miss Marthania when, on the arrival
of her guests, she located herself at the
head of the table, and unrOlling her
manuscript, announced in "cultured -
tone: My subject, dear friends and
fellow-disciples in the pursuit of culture,
is A Persian Daric. -"
We spare our readers the repetition OF
her discourse, merely observing en- pas
SAINT that it may be found in the ency-
]
paid more than polite attention to it.
But Miss Marthania's triumph reached
its climax when, her essay being con-
cluded, she drew forth and presented to
the astonished eyes of her disciples a
genuine Persian Daric.
1t does not require numismatic re
search to enable people to appreciate {
really pretty coin, and the daric was
amply admired, and passed again anC
again from hand to hand, the womer
observing what a lovely breastpin il
would make, and the men taking {
more directly practical interest in it
John MOdica was the only person who
had ever heard of Persian daric before
and he displayed very peculiar inter
est in it, observing more than once tina
the daric was a rare coin, pointing on
all its marks with the interest of
genuine cOnnoisseur, and smiling rattle
: oddly, and, as Miss Marthania thought
enviOusly, as he handled it. Altogethe
. the evening was a success, and it wa
{ not until the appearance of the hard bis
cults and apples, and the fresh water
, upon which Miss Marthania laid a pc
5 culiar stress, as if water were usual
stale, that any disappointment was visi
Q BILE in the faces of the disciples of cult
, ure. But let people be as intellectual
s as they please, such cOmestibles are bu
1 cold comfort on a chilly winters night
and a universal tagging of spirits wa
: perceptible as they were placed upon tn
{. table. Miss NIarthania smiled NOR
= blandly than ever as she pressed theI
= upon her guests, but her smiles wer
= vain.
Il do take an apple, dear Mrs. Sin
$ MONS" said she, insinuatingly. u
e you will just hand me back my dariC
= / will place the apples near you, and :
But haven't seen the coin this eve
4 so long" replied Mrs. Simmons, rathe
) GROSSLY; " and I'm much obliged to you
but apples don't agree with me-
= Upon this there was a general move
o ment to find the lost daric, but in vair
e though every one rose for the purpose
e and though Mr., Simmons emptied bot
apples and biscuits on the table, obser,
:, ING, with a wink, ''that the daric wa n
o no harder N they was, and might hay
n got among them"
, Finally Helen LOSING observed
: good-humoredly, that the coin NIGH
have got entangled in the folds of he
n dress.
It "Come with me, Miss Marthania,
r said she, as she moved toward the doc
Il viii be searched first" So bot
; ladies retired, and then one by one a
q Miss Marthania's female guests above
l. themselves to be searched; but tn
daric was not found, though Miss MAJ
), thania fluttered about despairingly fror
If parlor to bedroom, and back again.
IS Meanwhile the search went on unrC
mittingly in the parlor, but uselessly.
l. Well, ma, | guess it's our turn I
l. be searched now" said Samuel Sin
# mons, good-humOredly. Come along
l. bows; if Miss Franklin IL let us have
Il room, Wen just see if that ere coin
d got into our pockets without our know
a ing of it."