The Washington critic., 1885-08-19
MARRIED In HASTE.

vi hnhiUD TN IlDD J. IL.
The officers comprising the mess of
the 49, artillery, stationed at Fortress
Monroe, gathered around two tables at
one end of the Hygcia dining-room. 1t
was a beautiful day in late October;
Chesapeake Bay smiling and sunny,
rolled before the windows and joined
Hampton Roads not twenty yards be
low, where grim Fort Wool marked
the ruins at the Rip Raps.
They were very good-looking set
of young mcn-young, since nearly
every one wore the unadorncd badge
of second licutenancy, though white
spots were threatening some of their
crowns, and in not u few cases gray
hairs outnumbered the shining buttons.
In his treatment of artillery officers
Uncle Sam bears a striking resemblance
to the mills of the gods, which are re
ported TO grind slowly, but the phil
osophy of America lies in the
army, where men early learn to take
what they can get, and live chcerfully
upon expectation. 1t is one of the
convenicnccs for second lieutenant to
be young. Age is admissible in cap
tain, but n lieutenant de li9eW must
have an airy lightsomeness, suggestive
of newly escaped cadctship. This ao.
counts for the extreme satisfaction with
which these morals appear to regard
their uniforms, as If gorgeous raiment
gtill "a nnynltu ltbprtNign imam
sidcratc civilians might remember that
the wage Is slight, and thus the prestige
of the army might suffer.
People from the gay world never by
any chance visit old Point Comfort in
October, and this morning, as the men
were talking over late breakfast the
diningroom was altogether cmptcd of
other guests, and they were quite ut
liberty to discuss the approaching sea
son, | shall not attempt to reproduce
mcss-rOom gossip. The discussion
opened in this way:
"NcXt month" said Lieutenant
IIowclls, eve shall have to begin dodg-
ing brides. Your November bride al.
ways wants to be lodged The Janu-
airy ones would rather be danced with,
l wonder why ?"
II don't object to brides myself, T."
said the amiablc Lieutenant Gay But
| do wish so many sick people wouldn't
come. They make fellow nervous"
"Why don't you be honest, WaXy,"
said the first speaker, "and ask TO have
admission refused to all but young,
pretty, rich girls, with the smallest al
lowabe proportion Of chaperons 2"
William Gay, addressed rs WaXy ON
account of the cagcrness with which he
had cultivated moustachc during his
first furlough, was the youngest of the
group. He was little man. who had
all his life surprised his friends with
his achievements. When his mother
supposed him to be cutting his first
teeth he was having the measles, and
before he had finished fractions he had
fallen in love with debutantc, five
years his senior.
AT this point of the conversation
Henry Lcfay, who had just received his
first promotion, interrupted. II want
TO give you hint, fellows" he Said
"Whcn you see me spooning this Win
ter you may know that it means bust
ness. | shall be ordered away in June
at the latest, and there is nothing 50
scandalously young and insignificant
about man with n strap across his
cpaulct. did intend to wait for a cap
taincy, but I've been doing some work
in applied mathematics lately, and |
find that unless there is unusual NOR
tality among my supcriors | shall be an
even 81 when that day dawns. So I'm
going in now, where | can find the girl
that can afford me, and by Jovc, She
won't get such bad bargain either, for
I'll give her anything she wants, if she
has the cash to pay for ii.
\ A laugh at his high minded gencros.
ity went around the table, then Will
lam Gay spoke with amusing serious
ness.
Its absurd, fellows, but do you
know, | never could go into ii that
way. Seems TO me man wants GER
tain amount f-er-regard for the girl he
marrics. OF course, she would have TO
scrub, very likely, and turn over her
coats and dresses, if she lived on u
quarter of my pay, and I'd have to give
up smoking and shoes and | don't know
what else, TO spare her that. I'd hate
to see her scrub, but declare I'd hate
worse to have her run an independent
machine and make n business transac-
ton of-cr-domestc bliss. "
"Well said, WaXy," and Lcfay pat
ted his shoulder patcrnally. you
learned that about turning over dresses
from Miss Madden last winter. She
said the same to me, but I'm first
lieutenant now, and deserve better"
So they chartered from peaches to
coffee, then went their several ways
with no further thought of breakfast
table nonsense, which would not have
made part of my story, except that it
dOvctailcd curously into an incident
which happened three months later
The Hygcia in February is quite an
other affair. Twelve hundred guests,
the least of whom pays dollars and dol
lars for daily bread and nightly bed,
makes nm aggregate of responsibility
awful to consider. They drive in the
morning and doze in the afternoon, go
to parade dress for dinner and dance Mt
night. There is always the energetic
set who ''do" the neighborhood, walk
some and go boating, Ii is paradise
for women with infinite occasion for
display, paradise for men too, since
there are never enough of them to so
around. The season was at its height
when Il party of girls entered the hall
oncmoning. They had arrived ON the
bclatCd Baltimore boat and We're not
essentially different from the 3i1 young
ladies already in the house. They
laughed a trillc too loud, perhaps but
they were Tudors and Plantagcncts in
social way, and dared, if they chose
One Of them walked up to the pile
of cloaks, piled carclcssly on table.
Girls, - she said orlcularly, you may
have all the rest of the officers, but
remember the one to whom this cape
belongs is mine. shall know him by
the little hole in the lining, and | give
you fair warning TO leave my property
alone. a."