Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-07-20

1 Rhru 10 the real stAle Oh my Htoih SothC
in dream. / awoke one night with
the memory Of sitting at delightful
writing-desk in Observation-Disclosures
room and clipping coupons from Gov
eminent bonds. The waking thought
Of Government bonds, through the as
sociation Of ideas, brought TO my mind
my dining-table riS-d-UiS. AT the first
suggestion Of her name. made by my
selfto myself as lay awake. blushed;
/ am sure of H. /. n mature man with
responsibilities far-reaching-I may al
most say rational-blushed at the
thought Of this woman.
/ The sensations of man in love are
not. perhaps, worthy Of description or
analysis. / will AaSs them by, merely
alluding to the pertinacity with which
/ watched Miss JOhnsOn's habits of APP
petite and the skill which / used in
| seating myself ut the table soon after
she had seated herself. Occasionally,
/ may say parenthetically. climbed
with her the stairs from the basement
dining room to the parlor overhead and
sat in dark corner while she revived
the days Of her youth by playing five
/ finger exercises and such tunes as Tt
tus' Grand March on n piano whose
birth had been contemporary with that
Of the tunes. / have always liked
music; and, nj one time, more affected
by the sad strains than usual, dared
To look Miss johnson full In the face
and sigh. She colored slightly, /
thought, and then sighed deeply, SYM
pathetically, sorrowfully II was
small thing. perhaps, but at that time II
seemed n great deal % me. Obviously
Miss johnson and myself had symptoms
Of suffering from the same malady.
/ When left her that evening to take my
usual stroll in the grounds Of the Cap
| itOl dared softly To press her hand
II was not so yielding and delicate a
hand As some men might have wished
TO hold, but il returned the pressure.
Oftentimes / tried TO discover what
il could be IN Miss johnson that so at
| tracted me. However. / was never
altogether successful. II seemed to me
that she was restful and reliable; that
could trust all my financial matters and
pecuniary perplexities TO her and sail
gently down the stream of time. To
man who is not by nature romantic such
considerations are not without an esti-
mable value.
do not know how long / might have
drifted almost unconsciOusly with the
tide Of my unfortunate passion If cir
cumstances had not conspired to shock
me rudely. The chief of my division
came TO me one day with an appearance
of settled melancholy.
"Mr. Thomas" he said, 81 must
| trouble you to correct this error" He
was right! Ihad committed blunder.
i was speeches. for n moment. Then
/ spoke rs plainly as possible Of the APP
| probation of my responsibilities which
L had always possessed and of my
chagrin that myself, so trusted by the
Government, should have been guilty OF
so gross n carelessness. The thief
started away without word in answer.
Then he turned around and said:
mot thinking of marriage-eh,
Thomas?"
Feeling the eyes Of the office upon me,
and conscious that the Government was
regarding me reprOachfully, | stam-
mered something wholly unintelligible
TO everybody, Including myself, and
awkwardly tipped bottle Of red ink
over my desk. / have often thought
that men have committed suicide for
less than | suffered at that moment.
Before / left the Office | had made ND
my mind. i would, for the first time in
my life, acknowledge my devotion to n
woman. With digestion impaired, with
scarcely sufficient energy TO sew on a
button, and with general sense of I'M
reliability in regard to my relations with
the Government, concluded that il was
time TO change the course of nv life IL
possible.
All, well do I remember that Saturday
afternOoni The Saturday afternoons.
almost entirely given to laziness, are the
small GASES in the desert of the life of
the Treasury clerk. On Saturday after
moons he lOiters around the hotels or
the club-roOms, OF. IL il be summer.
drives to the cemeteries or steams down
the river to Mount Vernon or some other
point Of interest. Sometimes he visits
the Capitol. when Congress is in ses-
sion, and sends his card 10 the member
who was kind enough TO recommend him
for appointment.
As for me. j had never been addicted
/ To those amusements which had been so
popular among the other clerks. had
nearly always preferred to remain Mt
home on Saturday afternoons. Several
times had ventured 10 take the ferry
across the river TO Alexandria, the SIGHT
Of whose age and decrepitude had not
failed to extract n certain sympathy
/ from me.
But Of all my Saturday afternoons.
this is most conspicuous. Il waA per-
haps, little past two o'clock when I
reached home. My landlady's voice
heard in the basement kitchen. She
was expressing herself very earnestly,
and Dolly, the negro cook. was swear
ing at her ferociously. waited until
the confusion was somewhat abated and
then rang the bell. At this the alterca-
ton, instead Of subsiding. grew marked
~ worse. They were evidently quar-
reling concerning whose duty il was TO
come to the door.
IL was the mistress who came, very
red in the cheeks and purple about the
eyes; symptoms which slowly withdrew
rs stood facing her.
why didn't you use your latch
keyP" inquired my landlady, with some
asperity.
Because" said /, feeling embar-
rassed already: because 1 would like
TO sec you,"
"welI." said my landlady.
Was she going to force me to explain
myself at the door? Surely the iemi-
nine tact about which I had read so
much was not exhibiting itself on this
occasion.
Its Of no consequence, whatever"
said j; as extensively as possible. I
turned away.
Mrs. Brown saw that she had gone
too far
Mr.. Thomas, como back!" she said.
l was apPeased. returned and
waited.
Come inr' said Mrs. Brown.
/ went in and stood In the hall. Mrs.
Brown shut the front door.
Il haven't time to sit down. said
she.
What could / saxp How conld in