New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-03-17
THE IMPERIAL DRAGON.
How First Impression Proved Decep-

How First Impression Proved Decep-
tive.
Prize Story, from the Chicago Tribune.
The combination of circumstances
that brought Miss Damon to L
moneyless, but determined, was known
to nobody. All that any one knew OF
her was impaired by a brief state
ment made by the editor of the Dis
patch to the effect that on a certain
clustering afternoon in January she
had walked into the office and asked
for employment. He had declined her
service with thanks, but she came
again and again, until one day she
found vacant desk, sat down at it,
and had been there ever since.
She wrote two or three caustic ar
ticles, struck at one or two local atroc-
tiles, and in a little while made an
unenviable reputation for bitterness
and cynicism. Her name got out,
ana after that everything malicious
and pungent that appeared in the pa
per was unhesitatingly set down to
her credit.
She was not known outside of the
Office, but the impressions that pre-
vailed concerning her were not fatter-
ing. 1t was generally agreed that she
knew too much to be young, was too
cynical to be agreeable, and there
was a theory current among the pa
per's readers that she had been cross
ed in love and disappointed in her liter
airy aspirations. She did her work
in the daytime, and was little more
than a myth to the men who spent
their nights in journalistic harness.
They were frequently questioned
about her, and they generally answer
ed all queries by the broad but mean
ing statement that she did not "run
with the gang
Soon after she began her mark in
her new sphere a book OF verses APP
peared, written by a gentleman OF
L., George Lawrence. Copies were
sent to all the papers, and one Of these
fell into the hands of Miss Damon.
She prefaced her criticism with the re-
mark that the verses were not uni
formly bad, but ranged from bad to
very bad, and then mercilessly impal-
ed tho author to the extent Of three
quarters of a column.
Lawrence had never forgiven her.
He referred to her ever after as THE
Dragon" and "The Imperial Dragon"
The name seemed appropriate, and it
was generally adopted. The criticised
verslfer experienced some satisfaction
at having thus baptized her with in
dignation, but he by no means con-
sidered himself avenged, and at the
mere mention Of her name his mus
cles grew rigid and every artery
throbbed with O. wild desire for
vengeance. Being clever with a
pencil, he made a sketch of her
which embodied the popular impress
sion that she was a shrewish person
of uncertain age, and it was source
of endless amusement to himself and
friends. It must be confessed that
Miss Damon's was not the only ad-
verse criticism, and Lawrence was a.
good deal depressed but not wholly
subdued. He did not intend to be
snuffed out in this summary fashion,
however, and though for a time he at
tempted nothing in a literary way, he
was casting about for fresh motive,
resolved at no distant date to make
another effort. "The Dragon" had
recommended prose, he would try
prose.
In the meantime summer had come
and Lawrence was to spend several
months with some friends in Califor-
MIA. When he returned he would go
to work in earnest.
1t was a glorious day, bright and
cool, though it was the middle Of July;
the sun was just rising over the east
ern rim of the cup-shaped valley; a
luminous mist, shading from pink to
p1rple, was rolling away from Pixies
Peak, and the bits Of sky showing be-
tween the serrated ridges opposite
were deeply blue.
Lawrence, on his way to California,
had stopped to spend a. day at Mani
tou. He had reached the springs the
evening before, and was finishing his
breakfast this bright morning in the
great Sahara of a. dining-room, when
the waiter came in to announce the
carriage he had ordered for the day.
For the last half hour the gallery in
front of the hotel had been thronged
with tourists ready to begin the days
sightseeing, and the double line of We
hicles drawn up outside were being
loaded with all possible dispatch. AS
Lawrence emerged from the dining
room the last wagon drove up to the
door and a lady was on the point Of
getting in when the driver said:
"Beg your pardon, ma am, but this
carriage is for the gentleman"
"But l ordered a carriage for this
morning"
"Your order was too late. They
we've all engaged. This was the last
one in the stables. | can give you one
tomorrow. 89
81 shall not be here tomorrow"
"Maybe the gentleman's going to
stay over a day or two and would
lust as soon drive tomorrow, sug-