The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-28
THE BLUE BoAR's DINING-RooM.
Written for the Indianapolis Journal.

Wnatofec aH0 Wherever ones previous c0nQ4"
ditions Of existence, they are bound to drop int3
provincial prospective from any point of view
within given radius Of the Capital. PonkapoG
or Gotham, it is all the samei Ponkapog may
/ be more limited In its localism than Gotham but
| Gotham's localism is no less distinct than onk-
| apogs, And one steps out of the little orbit Of
| ones nativity into the larger sweep of Wash
| ington life with curiosly dizzied sense Even
/ when one observes it from the dining-room OF
| the Blue Boar / call mine inn the Blue Boar
chiefly because that is not the name of it. But
| this perhaps, will be sufficiently obvious
/ The point of view counts for a good deal
| There is one corner in the dining-room of the
hostelry / refer to whore one can see nothing
| and nobody but ones soup and the widowed
| oyster in it. That corner has estranged. embit-
tered and antagonized more souls that else might
have been knit in the bonds OF beautiful
boarding house amity than any combination OF
causes on record in the annals of the Blue Boar.
| 1t was while occupied this unhallowed spot
/ that overheard the dulcet tones of the Central
American Legation.
| The Central American Legation invariably
/ dined in Spanish It looked like foreigner OF
| distinction but an American of no responsibility
| whatever. It had an indefinite number of soft
| brown eyes, and no manners to speak Of Ito
| manners were unut.erable, that is to say. ItS
| had dual entity, and to one OF it was attached
a romance-a tale of the land where the ma
| caws sing and the monkeys swing and the broad
| bananas sway. Nobody knew the Senior; he
| had merely bowling acquaintance with English
and never presumed on 1t; but every body knew
he lived and moved and had his being in the
| mysterious glow of an affecting Past. So the
landlady said. 1t was in this wise:
Don Ferdinand Ferdinandez came OF noble
| lineage to his adobe surroundings Every fore.
| going Ferdinandez had shed new lustre on the
family name until its gathered radiance was like
unto the Kohinor itself. And there dwels also
| in this equatorial locality maiden in whom an
r. ~ T.
ting than any Kohinor. In the language of tho
1 landlady Donna Pacifca by Don Ferdinand was
l beloved, not unrecprocalIy.
| And in the time of the budding of the cocoa
nuts Don Ferdinand made the nature Of his
emotions known. And Donna Pacihca SWORD
by all ehe tender tropical stars that she would
wed none other.
Now Pacifca's papa was the President, who,
| being FULL OF years and dignity, and aguadiente
about this time yielded up his Spanish-Ameri-
can ghost And the new chief executive Wa
one Gomez, whose candidacy for the fathers
seat paled into insignifcance beside the ard0r
| with which he sought the daughters favor. I
never knew Pacifca, and would not dare to as
sert that she refrained from flirting with the
chief executive. Femininity has phenomenal
phases everywhere, however, and for the sake OK
the unities prefer to believe her faithful 10
Ferdinand But the guieful Gomez took coun-
sci with himself and conspired with the chief
executive to SILVER the idyl Of Paciica and
Ferdinand And Ferdinand was sent on Mex-
lean mission.
And while Ferdinand Loyalty sought to furthes
the prosperity of his native republic by Arrange
ing treaty whereby the mango and the yam
should find free admittance into Mexico, the
crafty Gomez paced the moonlit shore whereoR
the great gulf beat and the band played to dig
| traction; and his society was welcome to the
chaperone of Pacifcas who was worldly old
party with "a front And it came to pass in the
space of week that Pacfca inclined toward
Gomez, and in one brief month they were we'd.
For dina mad froN fha 1on ~ <I,a an&f
to find perfdious Pacifica presiding over state
| dinners to the diplomatic corps and intriguing
for postof6ce for the front Then did Fer6-
inand also pace the cad sea shore, and hia
communion was with the conchs. CCnchs ara
pink-lpped and responsive but Ferdinand found
that the situation demanded more than q sympa-
| thizng sea-shell, SO he hied him to Washington,
where he is popularity known as an attache that
| doesn't repay cultivation
Then there is the Colonel. The Colonois mill
tary title is wrapped in the customary obscurity.
but his military air is fact and unimpeachable.
He has the honor to be the accom- panying adjunct
of doughty person and her daughter toward
| whom he has been known to sustain q relation
that is marital and paternal That was when 10
was the correct thing, you know. 1t Is rather
out of date now.
1t is almost the Colonels first visit to his native
land. He has lived abroad so long as to have
practically forgotten the crude traditions of our
| barbarously republic He communicates
confdentially with fine foreign accent
to every individual Blue Boar boarder
his adverse views concerning democratic
principles. In his dressing gown he is
delicious in frock coat he Is
Incompatible. His assumptions are lovely. An
inadvertant boarder once inquired, in the pletho-
| ra of geniaiity that comes of Sunday dining at
| the Blue Boar how he had spent the day.
How have spent the day, sr2 And, pray,
sir. what the devil is it your business how l have
| spent the day."
| The boarder dissolved gently into his coffee
cup and they bore it tenderly away. But the
wrathy imperial of the fine old English gentle.
man who was born and brought up in Ohio will
be feature of hirsute adornment not easily for
| gotten by those who saw its elevation.
| Madame and Mademoiselle are equally charm
ing as specimens of the effect of European cult
| ure uron the raw native article. They ara
really beautiful limitations. Madame is portly.
| of course and philosophical and wears her dress
| cut low at dinner. Her manners are empresso
to degree. and the rolling of her RS is like
distant thunder. Her voice is a beautiful
baritone, and she grows quite hilarious over
! her beer. She has views and enuncates them
with a rising infection that is truly insular
/ And although by no means "expatriated,n she
| also possesses fine dislike to any society that
| does not make feature of afternoon tea
La belle demoiselle was tenderly nurturej in n
| French convent She left her native Cincinnati a.
| the age of ten and has honored that hamlet with
frequent visits since, but she is unfa nliar with
American currency and invariably quotes tha
| price of her shoes in "bobn She's taking little
| thing and she doesn't always swear in French.
The names OF the English ladies of title whose
tender regard for her she mentions with inck
| dental frequency, show an extensive knowledge
| OF the peerage-about the only definite informs
| ton upon any point she is known to possess.
| Her gentlemen admirers are all Chaps with
| one solitary favored exception, who, being tho
heir prospective to ducal coronet, is fondly
dominated 'chappie.' This young person is
an awful illustration of the pernicious effect Of
| chronic insular snobbery where the constitutions
| is condition favorable to it's development To
| her supercilious young consciousness also Amer
| lea is country of trans"
! The Blue Boar at present supports legislative
honors in its privilege OF lodging with boards
/ two naughty Senators. One occupied the gided
| halls of the entire first floor. and has every
claim to the consideration usually accorded tho