Omaha daily bee., 1888-01-15


an honest, industrious mechanic. and
knows all about bolts. screws and steam
pipes, but little of works of art. The
rose-pink and sea-green sachet was as fit
for him as Il Honiton lace collar for
an elephant. The poor fellow was over
whelmed with confusion. He dangled
the sachet on his brown fingers, ,rumpled
the satin ribbons. and tried to speak the
thanks he did not feel. A dozen strong
linen handkerchiefs, well marked, would
have been useful. John would know
what to do with them ii he caught
a cold by-and-by. In one house are
three unmarried daughters. all in the
matrimonial market. The avowed low
crs of two OF them were the donors OF
costly ornaments, the most elegant
among their great number Of expensive
Christmas gifts. You would imagine
these damsels to be in the seventh
heaven of delight. Not bit of it.
Papa. for good reasons, doubtless gave
neither OF them the scalskin jacket she
had decided on beforehand. One fam
cies her sisters ornaments are richer or
more unique or something else than her
own. Every day since that great one of
peace and good will there has been a
running fire of singing words between
the sisters. The truth is that the thing
is overdone and the money value OF the
gift is counted on more than the feeling
that prompts it!
A complication regarding
A CHRISTMAS GIFT
is making one woman weep, one man
equally sorIowful, and the rest of the
boarders laugh, at fashionable hotel
in this city. We will call the principal
actors Mr.. and Mrs. Brown. She was
especially desirOus of thousand-dollar
pair of diamond earrings. She had gone
so far as to select them at a jewelry
store, and had consulted with her hus
band. He had urged poverty as u
reason for not buying them, but had
intmated that he could stand an expen
diturc of about five hundred dollars for
the purpose. Then Mrs. Brown had
happy thought. She went to the jew
eler and told him that if her husband
came to look at the earrings. the price
was to be given to him as $500, and that
| if he purchased them she would pay
| the remaining $500. The scheme
was carefully and successfully
| worked up to critical
| point, and there it had miserable fail
ure. The husband inspected the jewels
| according to the programme, and he
| bought them, too. His wife learned
| from the merchant of the sale and paid
her half of the money according to
| agreement. But when Christmas came
and she opened the box containing her
present, she found only hundred dol
lar bracelet instead of the coveted ear
rings. She suppressed her fury for n
| while and calmy asked her husband
why he had not given the diamonds to
| her. He replied that he had not been
able to afford it. Next she had a con-
| sultation with the jeweler who declared
upon his honor that Mr.. Brown had paid
| five hundred dollars for the earrings
| had seemed to regard them as a good
| bargain and had taken them away To
| whom had he given them? TO II woman.
| surely, for they would be of little use to
masculine ears. Perhaps Mrs. Brown
| exhausted all private means of finding
out for whom she had contributed $500
out of her own pocket money. Anyhow,
she has confided the perpleXing question
to several cronies in the hotel and they
in turn have told it to others, and here
it goes into publication.
| The pursuit of Kyrle Bellew, the
actor, by a crafty sentimental woman
in Boston is generally smiled at as an
| advertising device, because Bellew is a
| chap who can be considered handsome
| only by the most vivid imagination.
But it is a mania with a few women in
| New York to worship stage heroes any
| how. and so it is no wonder that fool
ish creature chased Bellew to Boston.
Madame Ponisi, the stately old actress
who has for very many years been in
| the Wallack company with Bellew and
| his predecessors, has been talking to
me about the craze for acting and for
actors that possesses n few girls of the
present day. No one is better qualified
to speak on this subject. She has been
season after season in the company
with such famous heart breakers
as Lester Wallack, Henry j.
Montague, and later specimens of stage
heroes. She had to push through a
crowd of their adorers, who locked uL
the back door, to see their idols enter or
depart. She has faced with them matt
nee audiences made up of enamored
idiots. She has read bushel of burn
ing etfusons. Montague, the most be-
seiged Of the whole army of theatrical
crushers, used to receive Il hundred love
letters every month of his life, and on
such occasions us New Years and Christ.
mas, as many camRin 1xweek. Madame
Ponlsi said that Montague did not pre-
tend to read them. The back door
keeper would hand him a batch, out oi
which he would hastily Gull the tender
missives, and, as he passed the actresses
dressing rooms he would distribute the
! CuTlOSlllcs lOF buclT uuluStllleuU. hS u
KYRLE Bellows FAsCINATIONs.
they appeal to the admiration and atfec
tion of the very young or the very an
cicnt. The mobs that stand and wai'
for him on tho side street either use
chewing gum or wear spectacles. Nine
Ponisi told how one sufferer from this
form of dementia hit upon plan. She
learned where the matronly actress
dwelt and asked for an interview. Nov
if ever nobility of nature and dignity o
womanhool sat on woman's head ant
rndiated from her fan, it is Madam Po
nisi's case. With her crown Of silver
hair, the honest eyes of Irish blue, tn,
J complexion and teeth preserved b,
health and Il cOntented mind, the firm
upright form, without an effort to etfac,
/, wrinkle gown beautifully old, the ac
tress faced her visitor. A private carriag,
had brought her there. Her dress be
, tokened wealth. and everything tina
money could do TO make an Old hen into
spring chicken had been done. Bah,
fri2zes were pinned on her thin ant
faded locks. Rouge was laid on wher,
, Alabastcr cream left off. A row o
piano keys decorated her upper jaw
Farl Indien threw uD her time -bleare,