Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-10-28

TssS l man' la in anas gsn aaS
MRS. HoPKINsoN. honorable ian d IS i,
and certainly was not of quality that Mr.
Wiles, at present, would have cared to ex-
pose. For, in spite of Mr.. Wiles' discom-
future, he still had enough experience of char
acter to know that the irate mcmber from
Fresno would be satisfied with his own pecu-
liar manner Of indicating his own personal
integrity, and would not make public scan
dial Of it. Again, Wiles was convinced that
Dobbs was equally implicated with Cash
wiler and would be silent for his own sake
So that poor Dobbs as is too often the fate of
simple but weak natures, had full credit for
duplicity by every rascal in the land.
From which it may be inferred that nothing
occurred to disturb the security of Gashwiler
When the door closed upon Mr.. Wiles he in
dited note which, with costly but exceed
ingly distasteful bouquet-rearranged by his
own fat fingers, and discord and incongruity
visible in every combination of color-he sent
off by a special messenger. Then he pro
ceeded TO make his toilet-an operation rarely
graceful or picturesque in our sex, and an in
suit to the spectator when obesity is super
added When he had put on a clean shirt, of
which there was grossly too much, and added
white waistcoat that seemed to accent his
rotundity, he completed his attire with a
black frock coat of the latest style, and sur
veyed himself complacently before mirror.
1t is to be recorded that, however satisfactory
the result might have been to Mr. Gashwiler.
it was not so to the disinterested spectator.
There are some men on whom chat deformed
thief, Fashion" avenges himself by making
their clothes appear perennially new The
gloss of the tailor's iron never disappears; the
creases Of the shelf perpetually rise in judg-
ment against the wearer. Novelty was the
general suggestion of Mr.. Gashwilers full
dress-it was never his habitude-and "Our
Own Make, " "Nobby," and the --latest Style.
only 49," was as patent on the legislators
broad back as if it still retained the shop
mans ticket
Thus arrayed, within an hour he compla-
Gently followed the note and his floral offer
ing The house he sought had been once the
residence of foreign ambassador, who had
| Loyalty represented his government in single
unimportant treaty, now forgotten, and in
various receptions and dinners, still actively
| remembered by occasional visits to its salon,
now the average dreary American parlor.
Dear me-" the fascinating Mr. X. would
say, "but do you know, love, in this very
room | remember meeting the distinguished
Marquis of Monte Pio;' or perhaps the fash
ionable Jones, of the state department, in
| stantly crushed the decayed friend he was
perfunctorily visiting by saying: "'Pon my
! soul, you here? Why, the last time was in
this room | gossiped for an hour with the
Countess de Castenet in that very corners
For, with the recall of the aforesaid ambas-
sador, the mansion had become a boarding
house, kept by the wife of departmental
clerk
Perhaps there was nothing in the history of
the house more quaint and philosophic than
Mo story Of its present occupant Roger
Fauquier had been a departmental clerk for
forty years. 1t was at once his practical
good luck and his misfortune to have been
early appointed to a position which required
o thorough and complete knowledge of the
formulas and routine of department that
expended millions Of the public funds Eau
quier, on poor salary, diminishing instead
of increasing with his service, had seen sue
cessivc administrations bud and blossom and
decay, but had kept his position through the
fact that his knowledge was necessity to
the successive chiefs and employees. Once,
it was true that he had been summarily re-
moved by q new secretary, to make room for
camp follower, whose exhaustive and intel
| lectual services in political campaign had
made him eminently fit for anything; but the
alarming discovery that the new clerks
knowledge of grammar and etymology was
| even worse than that of the secretary himself,
and that, through ignorance of detail, the
business of that department was retarded to
a damage to the government of over half a
million of dollars led to the reinstatement of
Mr. Fauquier-at a lower salary. For it was
| felt that something was wrong somewhere,
| and as it had always been the custom of con
| gress and the administration to cut down sal
aries rs the first step to reform, they made old
| Mr. Fauquier moral example. A gentle
man born, of somewhat expensive tastes
! having lived up to his former salary, this
! change brought another b2ead-winner into
| the field, Mrs Fauquier who tried, more OF
| less unsuccessfully to turn her old southern
| habits of hospitality to remunorative account.
| But as poor Fauquier could never be pre-
| vailed upon to present bill to gentleman,
| sir, and as some of the scions of the best
southern families were still waiting for, OF
had been recently dismissed from, position
the experiment was pecuniary failure Yet
the house was of excellent repute and well
patronized; indeed, it was worth something tc
see old Fauquier sitting at the head of his owr
table, in something of his ancestral style, re
lating anecdotes of great men now dead and
gone, interrupted only by occasional visit:
from importunate tradesmen.
Prominent among what Mr.. Fauquiel
called his little family was black-eyed
lady of great powers of fascination, and con
siderable local reputation as a firt. Never
theless, these social alterations were
amply condoned by a facile and com
placent husband, who looked with g
lenient and even admiring eye upon the
little lady's amusement, and, to a certain ex
tent, lent n tacit Endorsement to her conduct
Nobody minded Hopkinson; in the blaze Of
Mrs. HopkinSon's destinations he was com
pletely lost sight of. A few married womer
with unduly sensitive husbands, and severa
single ladies of the best and longest standing
reflected severely on her conduct. The
| younger men, of course, admired her, but
think she got her chief support from old
fogies like ourselves. For it is your quiet
self-conceited, complacent, philosophic
broad-waisted pater-familias who, after all
is the one to whom the gay and giddy of the
proverbially impulsivc, unselfish sex owe
their place in the social armament We are
never inclined to be captious; we laugh at a:
a folly what our wives and daughters con
denim rs fault; our "withers are unwrung,
x.At VIC still cn,fnss 70 tho Enscir .,f