Middletown transcript., 1883-04-06
A DAUGHTER OF MIDAS.

Miss Van Arsdale, like the fieshpot'
of Egypt, was good to look at in tht
eyes of man, and she lived way up Yer
mont avenue, in blood-red ElizabethaI
palace, all gables and stained glass ani
olive shingled porches "a structure
where high art ragged rampant, where
everything that wasn't old English was
intensely Japanese, and everything that
wasn't japanese was old English, ex.
cept Mr.. Van Arsdale, who was in.
tensely Dutch, instead.
Down by the g Flats there is hor-
ribly dingy yard that slopes to the fes-
tering river. Not nice place to look
at, with. the green slime and snaky
weeds for ever before ones eyes, and
the odor of death for ever in ones nos
trils, but nice place to Oa0n for mines
Of coal and forests Of wood had found
their way there, to be turned into gold
at the Midas touch of Mr.. Van Ars-
dale's fingers.
Miss Van Arsdale carried her dimples
and diamonds to parties, and came
home tricked off like a Comanche war
rior, with twenty german favors dang
ling at her belt-favors that meant
ah, bliss twenty stab-thrusts for the
twenty " disengageds, who watched
with laughing eyes and'bleeding vanity
as she won her trophies in the dance.
Miss Van Arsdale considered herself
musical, and though Society likened her
register to the still, small voice of con-
science, and paid its ovations in defer
ence to Mr.. Van Arsdale's notes, rather
than those of his daughters, she pla-
cidly accepted the delicious falsehoods
it layished upon her, and went on sing
ing worse than ever.
Miss Van Arsdale painted impossible
pink roses on severely green stems, and
Society called her Bonheur. What
likeness could be traced between her
stiff -necked blossoms and Berkshire
cattle even she was puzzled to discover
but she took it all in good faith, and
revenged herself on Society by painting
plaques for her friends.
Society can stand great deal Of dust
in its eyes-gold dust-but when it
praised Miss Van Arsdale's clover-pink
cheeks and big, wonderful eyes-Gt1er-
man blue they were, with silver fiickers
in them-it honestly meant every word
that it said for she was absolutely
beautiful, from dressy point of view
Mr. Van Arsdale was not-indeed.
there was nothing beautiful about Mr..
Van Arsdale, except his love for his
only child-a love in which Society
could pick but single flaw, and the
Queens big diamond has two
He was shabby little millionaire,
plain of feature and shy of speech.
His hands were as brown and dry as
the chips in his own yard, and you were
pretty sure, if one scratched him. he
would run sawdust instead of blood,
He was 50 old as to look quite moldy.
and his clothes, in point of age, were
certainly entitled to vote.
When his daughter demanded her
palace and set up "a fur-caped coachman.
he gave her the money with all his
heart but when, as disastrous conse-
quence, she handed him over to an
Avenue tailor to do with as Fashion
ordained, so little did he appreciate the
eternal fitness of the things given him
to wear, that he returned to what one.
at a stretch, might term the friends of
his youth, and went about his business
in a hopeless state of revolt.
When he did not spend his evenings
at his dismal office in the woodward
with another shabby old millionaire
who owned the wharf alongside, or at
Abner's," he generally managed to
worry through the time at home.
though it was dull enough with Mi
nerva always away. He was a patient
little man, however, and would wait
up with an almost childish wistfulness
just to get carelessly kind goodnight
from his daughter as she flashed up the
oaken stairs.
Girls don't mean harm, they only do
it. Miss Van Arsdale loved her father.
of course, but he knew better than to
presume upon the relationship, and as
he never expected her to put her young
arms around his neck, OF kiss his with
cred lips, he wasn't disappointed be-
cause she failed to do it.
Society was quite in the middle of its
Easter ball, and Miss Van Arsdale,
looking like glorifed Easter candle in
cream satin with big diamonds flaming
IN her ears, was singeiug moths to her
hearts content, when the ominous
news came that Mr.. Van Arsdale had