Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-04-12
AFTER A HUSBAND.
Miss Della Mulholland's Campaign
in Europe.


Mrs. Benjamin j. w. Mulholland and
Miss Della Mulholland had decided to
spend a year in Europe. and sailed
from New York in the autumn of 1886
on their way to London. 1t would,
perhaps. be more accurate to say that
Miss Mulholland. intending so to dis
pose of the coming twelvemonth, had
persuaded her father a well-to-do
timber merchant into acquiescence.
and that Mrs. Mulh olland had never
been consulted. and had offered no
objections, having by this time en-
tered the retributive state of submits
sive nullity habitual to weak Ameri-
can wives when they become the
mothers of beautiful and ambitious
daughters.
The Mulhollands took more and big
ger rooms than they wanted at the
Grand Hotel. and proceeded to do"
London in the usual style, and to de-
rive from their journey as much profit
as would repay them for a somewhat
lavish outlay of capital The return.
in the mind of each member of the
party, was the possible securing for
Della of one of the stray lordlings
whose mission in life is to tie the mat
rimonial knot with fair and specu-
1ative American maidens. Mr.. Null
holland was to provide the sinews of
war. Mrs. Mulholland a passive and
indulgent chaperoneship. and Miss
Della to carry on the campaign ac-
cording to her own plans and oppor-
tunities. Neither doubted of success.
But whether the season was unpro-
pitious. their introductions INSULT cient,
or the Fates adverse, at the end of two
months the Mulhollands had made but
scant progress and achieved no social
recognition. Barring sightseeing
theaters and concerts, they enjoyed no
society save their own. and Miss Della
was more and more frequently heard to
remark, in voice at once shrill and
lazy, .that she didn't think much of
London. anyway" By this time.
however, Mr. Benjamin j. w. Null
holland had fallen into an easy way
of dropping in at the American Ex-
change at noon and only dropping out
lust before dinner. He had also in
structed his waiter at the hotel to
bring him up special breakfasts of
wonderful variety. and was COM
paratively as happy rs "a man can be
In Europe, SIR But Miss Delia's fl at
had gone forth-she must spend New
Years Day in Paris. get Worth to
make her dresses and skate in the
..Bow de Boulong" Mr.. Benjamin j.
". Mulholland docilely babe farewell
to the Exchange, handsomely tipped
his special waiter, and with his mutely-
subservient wife was led off to occupy
an equally extravagant suite of rooms
an premier of the Hotel Continental.
For awhile Miss Delia's prospects
frightened. They do know how to
make a gown in Paris" she said, ap-
provingly, land they have just the
sweetest things in bonnets. I've also
got a new wrinkle for dressing my
hair so that what with Worth and
Laferriere, and a few more. she ran
ND bills and ran through her
DAYS to her entire satisfaction.
Yet the evenings hung heavy
on her hands The Faubourg
St. German did not call on the Null
hollands. the great financiers of Bou-
levard Haussmann and the Champs
Elysees did not open their doors to
them, and the purely theoretical
knowledge of French acquired by Miss
Della in her schooldays rendered a
visit to the Francois or Gymnase a
doubtful pleasure. Needless to add
that PA" and Ma" had no acquaint-
ance whatever with the language.
and that i'm their intercourse with the
natives thew were wholly dependent
on Miss Delia's intermittent and ap-
nroximative Interpretation. In Feb
mary her wardrobe had swelled be-
vond the possibility of further increase,
and she informed her parents that sit
was Just no good moping in Paris, and
that if they wanted to know some
thing of Europe they must finish the
winter at Monte Carlo or Cannes
(She called it 'Cans.
MIR. Benjamin ]. w. Mulholland had
;,st acclimatised himself so far as to
be constantly seen at an American
bar. where drinks were mixed in an
orthodox Transatlantic fashion, and
Mrs. Mulholland had found on the
verandah of the hotel q rockin g-chair
oxactlv to her taste; but of course
D,lia knew best, and the venue was
eventually changed to Monte Carlo.
The superior wisdom of this strategic
nj movement was soon made appar-
emf. Before the family had been set
fled Eve days MIR. Benjamin j. w.