St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-08-04
MIR. HALLS MISTAKE.

Mhs nALLS MlSlAAEs
Miss Carson came to Chicago before
ythe great fire, or, as she always ex-
pressed it, the "great confagration. =
She kept bearders, and the struggle she
made to at least come out even at the
end of the month gave her face a
pinched and worried expression which
her blandest smile could not wholly OBJ
literate.
Her boarders were five in number and
were all gentlemen.
Dir. Hall, an old bachelor of fifty, had
boarded with Miss Carson for six years,
though he threatened to leave on an
average of once a week.
Mr.. Wilkins, Mr.. Crane and Mr..
Stowe were statesmen in large dry
goods house. They occasionally pre-
sented their landlady with gloves, hand
kerchiefs, or the latest thing in neck
wear, in return for which kindness she
,darned their stockings and replaced
missing buttons.
Last, though by no means least, for
he was six feet tall, there was Mr.. Fay,
"a young lawyer who had taken a room
Immediately under the mansard roof,
and who spent most of his evenings
reading ponderous volumes that his
landlady declared made her head ache
even to look at.
At first Miss Carson was inclined to
weave romances about Mr.. Fay. He
was so handsome, so quiet and reserved.
Was he somebody in disguise, or was he
suffering from an unrequited love? AS
months passed on, however, and moth
ing startling was heard concerning him,
she ceased to think much about him,
merely regarding him as a rather un-
ssociable young man totally wrapped up
in his studies.
Miss Carson made it point to always
show a ready sympathy with whatever
interested her boarders.
If MIR. Stowe told her that the White
Stockings had beaten the Bostons, or
some other thrilling item of news con-
snected with the National idiocy, she
would exclaim: 81 am surprisedr' or
~s.What pity!' with an interest that
was only equaled by her ignorance of
the great American game.
One cold winter evening the landlady
did not appear, as was her usual Gus
tom, behind the coffee-urn at the dinner
table. '.Old girl sickp" asked Mr..
Wilkins of the company in general.
"No,' replied Mr.. Crane; she has
gone to the Twenty-second street depot
to meet little girl, her niece, who is
coming here to live. =
Ii she is going to take child to
raise that settles it with me, y growled
MIR Hall, in a deep bass voice.
Il shall leave at the end of the month.
What is that in front of you, Stowep A
meat pie Of course! Meat pie is an in
vention of boarding keepers to
save scraps. Miss Carson says she
never gives us hash, but she either puts
it between crusts and calls it meat pie,
or she adds onions and calls it an Irish
stew!' .
"a rose by any other name would
smell as sweet" observed Mr.. Wilkins.
Tomorrow will be Sunday con-
tinued Mr.. Hall, :. and that means cod
fish-baHs for breakfast. Will somebody
tell me the connection between Goldfish
balls and Sunday morning, that they
should appear regularly on that particu-
lar day. Is there any creed that insists
son cedfsh-balls for Sunday breakfast?''
As no one volunteered an answer to
this question Mr.. Hall finished his din
ner with the remark that he hoped soon
ito take his meals where he would be
served as a gentleman ought to be, and
not be fed like a tramp. H.
Miss Carson's boarders were rather
surprised to find her niece full-grown
young lady instead of the little girl they
had expected to see. 1t would be a
difficult matter to describe Flo Sheldon.
She was not beauty. Her nose was a
triHe tip-tilted = and her mouth a
little too large, though her teeth were
white and even; but her eyes were the
glory of her face. They were large,
dark and bright; they were shaded by
long curliag 1ashes; they were such, al
Turing. provoking, bewitching eyes!
81 have always mentioned Flo as my
little niece said Miss Carson at the
81 can scarcely real
ize that this tall young lady is the little
girl in short dresses 1 parted from five