Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1888-03-03
THE MAN IN BROWN.

In that section of Fifth avenue, New
lork. where trade has commenced to ruf
shoulders with fashion most impudentlv,
stands brown stone mansion. Brown.
stone mansions are not 50 uncommon on
Filth avenue that this fact alone should
distinguish any special house from it.
nel@hborS, but there is that about this
house itself that performs the office most
effectively. It's closed blinds. which are
never by any chance aiar. its weedy
door yard, where the grass runs to seed
IN summer and the snow lies piled in
winter, the marks Of inattention about
the unswcpt steps and the unburnshed
door metal, combine to give it specia!
physiognomy in which one NAV read its
character. 1t is in houses such as this
that rich men live without the refining
or embellishing influence of female
companonship, served bv servants, to
whom the masters negligence communi
Gates itself until it becomes a sort of dry.
ret that affects the roof that shelters
them as well as themselves
II, knowing this house famiiarlv. YOU
were 10 meet It's master in the street for
the first time, YOU would know him.
Whether his house has come TO look like
him or he to look like his house. shall
not attempt to decide In as much as
man built Of flesh and sinew and bone
can resemble a pile of masonry. mortar.
and timber, the resemblance exists. He
Is brown man. to beGin n with His hair
AMI "hlskers. whch are wcedv in their
growth. are kept that tint hv dive, which
you may see him sometimes applying to
them out OF little bottle when his re
f1cCtlon IN the convenient mirror af
tordcd hy plate glass shop window
arouses suspicion III him that his iu-
venlllty needs reinforcement His clothes
are brown. There is a faint shade of
umbcr in the pllor of his sunken face.
IN which his hazcl-brown ewes sparkle
like cats under bushy brown brows.
Ana above all he carries with him the
same air of neg leCt that would make a
more chcaplv dressed man look seedv.
but which lends to him. as il does to his
onse, the suggestion of subtle and per
vading decay
At certain hour every afternoon this
man appears on Broadway. He comes
into view suddenly, As if he had taken
form out of the air. or been, shot up
through trap from below the tounda
tons OF the town The person does not
EXIST. within my knowledge al least, who
has evcl seen him start from anywhere
upon his daily promenade. | have nv
self stood al street corner watching the
crowd. with clear view OF II for blocks
up and down. and been sure that he was
no part Of il. when al at once. there he
was before me. walking with one
shoulder lttle higher than the other,
and slight shuttle TO his steps, as if the
dryrot had commenced to palsy his feet
and his ht hand in his pocket where
he keeps his bottle Of hair-dye In this
style he >hambcs UP from MON Square
10 Delmonico'S.
Wherever he may begin his afternoon
round. he ends il at his own door. He
ends it, too. with the same nres,ldigita-
torial swiftnes> that marks his coming.
| have noted him from the club window,
and have seen him as went by, standing
on his doorstep. with his face leering
covert 80 the street, and in the flashing
OF a 9, ,H9ee have lost him. 1t was as If a
gust Of wind had blown him through
has keyhole, or the firm stone had parted