Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-01-03
THE STRANGE ADVENTURE OF HORACE
MONTAGUE.

the ole days in the metropolis the
days of 10, I'll and 72, when Gen.
d. Weanyso Jobson was King OF
Bohemia-and as l unused who
should come in and drop down in
chair opposite but Horace Mon
tague?
he was a prince among good fell
lows. When i first met him he
was the senior member of the bank
ing house of Montague & Mylott, OF
Broadway. He had Il penchant for
coming down tn I'rinting-house
square OF am evening and mingling
with the boys uf the press gang,
and many night did he royalty
entertain Bohemia at Billy Reagan's
place below the Herald Office.
He was generous, and had deli
cate way OF firlping poor fellow to
a few dosIai>. He knew all the
fashionable gs'osip 6f the town, and
could forecast all the looming
events" in high-tnnrd society, and
when he saw il poyr devil really i'm
need he would load him up with
an item o. news that would bring
him ten or twenty collars at the Of
flee of either OF The leading morning
dailies, and ten chances to one
WOULD create a sensation in fashion
able society, and set all the quid
nuncs to wondering how the report
ers could get into the secrets of the
inner circles of society.
That Horace Montague was fa-
vorite among the newspaper writers
goes with the saying. Every week
he took some of the craft up to his
house at Rhinebeck-a splendid old
mansion, handsomely and richly
furnished, which he inherited as
sole heir upon the death of his par
ents, just after the close OF the war,
and two or three years before he at
tanned his majority.
= :''Why, old fellow, are you still
here working at the tread-mill as
you did over dozen years ago ?"
was his CHEEKY salutation.
1tOh, no! Bohemia is no more.
You no longer haunt Printing
House Square, or you would know
"I haven't been in New York for
half score years until within the
last two months, and had almost
forgotten the place. 1'Ye been in
Colorado for over ten years." nag
"But why did you abandon busi-
ness in the metropolis 2" p
"Business abandoned me, and
that's why l followed the setting
slight sigh escaped him.
"Hunting fortune! Why you
were worth half million fifteen
years ago" a....+
""If I'll been worth a million it
would be all the same. almost
literally walked out of town on New
Year, IA"
"Tellme how it happened"
He ordered II bottle of Piper Held
sick, and over the brimming beak-
ers told this little story that smacks
strongly OF romance:
.'The pretty eyes of Swiss peas
ant girl cost me my patrimOny and
all my wealth. You remember that
last night spent with the boys
down at Reagan's-the night before
l sailed Tor Europe? Well, when l
came back it was to 60 into liquida-
ton, and sell the old homestead at
house, furniture, plate,
horses and carriages, and everything
else.
81 roamed about Europe for few
and finally brought up in
a pretty mountain village not far
from Geneva. Here / met the siren
who lured me to destruction in the
most innocent way imaginable. In
the suburbs of the village l met a
pretty peasant, whom we shall call
Bertha, living with her father and
mother, plOdding, phleginatic |
pair of mortals. Bertha made little
trinkets of one kind and another,
and sold them at enormous prices |
TO tourists. Her father acted as II
guide in the mountains. and no |
doubt got fabulous prices for pilot |
ing people to eligible points of view
from whence they could take in the |
beauty of nature. The mother
cooked and sold little peasant din
ners at more than DelmoDicO prices,
all things considered.
Bertha captIvated me with her
blue eyes, golden hair, en-
.rancing smiles and modest, girl
ike demeanor, and | became a will
ing victim to the avaricious Wiles
hat lay beneath the seeming sim
Dlicity OF that peasant family. If,
n the course of four or five years,
hey impaled many such victims, /
ion't wonder that the simple-mind-
I'd peasant was able TO retire upon
of $l00, 900 year and stick
, title in frent of his name.
81 am ashamed to tell it, but in
,wo months / had bestowed not less
han 50, 900 upon the family in one
way or another, and Bertha's sweet
and simple smile was a standing
invitation for me to persist in my
oolish giving. / must have been
he victim of an idiotic infatuation,
Or I conceived the idea in some
Way that / ought to dazzle this
pretty peasant girl and convince
ler that / was prince. 70 do this
gave fete in the village which
.ost me $40, 900, and added to this
piece of extravagant folly by Offer
ng a diamond necklace worth $4,000
more to the prettiest peasant girl in
he village or in its environs, the
recipient to be designated by vote
,t the attendants upon the fete.
sOf course Bertha won the neck
ace, and proudly clasped it about
ler neck. There is no telling what
,ther folly 1 might have been
guilty of had not my part
ier cabIed me that my pres
,nce i'm New York was absoutelyl
necessary. AS it was had exceed
I'd my most extravagant allowance
1y round $50, 900, and had drawn
against all our credit with the Bar
ngS.
"When / reached home the panic
1f '73 was prostrating the oldest
houses in New York. / found Mr..
Mylott feverish, excited and agita-
ed. Our deposltors were with
irawing their funds, and drafts were
in from our country cores
pondents.
atIt will take just $4,000 10
bridge over to-day, said MIR, Mylott,
and then we will be ON solid {
ground. You must draw upon the