Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-04-15
COMRADES ONLY.
The 'Mitten" Given to Mr.. Schnur.
iger by Miss James.

lger by Miss James.
The residents of a certain retired
street awoke one morning to find a
small shop sprung into existence,
mushroom fashion, in their midst. The
neighborhood was not peopled by the
upper ten, yet it grumbled not little
to lind its shabby gentility in such close
contact to shop-and dairy at that.
Yes, there hung the Haunting sign,
''Xavier Schnuriger, Dairy Products.
t'Why couldn't his name have been
John Smith?'' ENORMOUSLY remarked
the old lady across the way, as she
established herself behind the window
blind and prepared to take items.
''For my part, l dom see any use in
names that nobody can pronounce
without calling in dentist afterward,"
said Mrs. james daughter, an unmarried
female somewhere between forty and
fifty years of age.
Il wish the man himself would come
to the door," continued Mrs. James.
"a shop in our squarei Really, I've
lived here well on to fifty years, Lurida
that was before your time--and this is
the first shopkeeper who has had the
bold face to open place of business
here-right in the very house, too,
where Mary Frances Perkins first
husbands sister lived for years. Our
quarter is not exactly the most fashion,
able one, Lurida, but it is eminently
respectable and cultivated-no talk of
shop. Well, | never! Lurida, just come
here for moment and look out"
Miss Lurida let her knitting drop to
the floor, as she hastily moved over to
the window and opened another slat in
the perSienne, close to her mothers.
''Why, mother, he is young, isn't he?
good-looking, too, in spite of his name.
He must have great deal of pluck. to
open store-here. His looks would
secure him presentation anywhere. 1
hope his grammar is correct-for it
would be a terrible shock if he turned
out to be one who said them people
is, or 'usen't, or git out o thar
Really, we must encourage him by Civ
ing him our patronage. I'll buy to-day
milk there.
..Lurida." exclaimed Mrs. James, too
much astonished to say any thing for a
moment; then: MY dear, l wish YOU
would not 90 on at such n rate. You
talk as if we were intending to give him
an invitation to call upon us. Invite
the shopkeeper in our square?-never-
no, not if he was as beautiful as the Et-
trick shepherd"
How sweetly appropriate your allu-
sions always are, MOTHER sighed Luz
rida. She was accustomed to these in
consequent comparisons in her mother s
speeches, but they never failed to irri-
tate her, for Lurida made a great point
of culture.
..Lurida James, anybody would think
YOU were still in your teens to hear you
talk and sigh in that sentimental way"
.'Well, so 1 am young, mother. in my
feelings. l am going over to get some
milk / want to see what he is like, "
said the adventurous Lurida, dOnning a
hat lined with red, that cast most I'M
pleasant tinge upon her high cheek
bones and her somewhat prominent
nose. Taking the milk can from its
hook in the kitchen. she went across to
the new store to satisfy her natural curl
osity.
If there isn't Luridy james a-going
for that young man a-ready! SAID
Mrs. Stillwell, the next door neighbor,
to the English pug dog in her lap:
..Law! Romeo, that frightful old maid
is never happy without there is man
a-capering at her heels. If | was she.
I'd begin to settle dCwn-she's fifty If
she's a day.
In censuring Lurida's fondness for
masculine attention, Mrs. Stillwell did
not stop to reflect that she herself had
recently buried her fourth husband,
and that a certain quota of CO.
ouetry is understood to have been
practiced in order to entrap four
spouses. Charitable comparison Is a
stranger among neighbors-it is always
the mote in the other persons eye that
fills our thoughts.
Ding-a-ling-a-ling = quavered MIS-.
Stillwell's front door-bell at that mo-
ment. Romeo barked with unusual
yehemence, while his mistress, with
startled flush, stepped to mirref to
see if the parting of her frizette was
exactly in the middle; then, throw ne a
layendar Grape shawl about her sAou1d-
ers, she stepped to the door. 1t was
only Mrs. Richards. who kept private
boardino-house next door but one; and
she had brought her impish siN-year-old
son with her.
s.Did YOU ever!" exclaimed the v1sl-
tor breathlessly, when she sunk into the
depths of the late MIR. Stillwells favor
lite. easy-chair-an act that seemed niue
short of sacrilege to the bereaveu
widow. Ibid you ever! sLuridy Jane
is over there already''-indicatin[g the
shop with a crook of her ebony finger.
Just like her," said Mrs. Stillweli'
as she moved little nearer to her caller,
in order not to lose word of the lively
gossip that would be forthcoming Mrs.
Richards had vivid Imagination
equal to the extravagant tales OF the
Arabian Nights, except that her ms
tories were Drumming over with mallce
that scorched and deadened wherever
they touched, like stream OF molten
lava. "Just like her, repeated Mrs;
Stillwell. mo maids like the ola
raids. She's fifty if she's day. Even
her fine airs and all her talk about Gull
ture can't hide her old age"