Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-08-14
WOOED BUT NOT WON.
Major Milliken's Unfortunate and
Expensive Mistake.

GAROh6ANO 04lSbtbh0s
Chip said Mr.. Velveton; "a serenade!
| What fair damsel is to be made happy
noW"
He had walked unccremoniously into the
quarters of his friend, MAJOR Milliken, at
the San Pedro Hotel, at Long Branch, and
surprised that gentleman in the act of pre-
pairing various and sundry sheets of music
for different instruments. 1he Major was
in becoming deshdbtilc of wine-colored silk
smoking jacket, tasseled Persian cap and
maroon velvet slippers.
YES" said the Major, with his lead-pen-
Gil between his teeth; ~ take the cornet
solo myself; Jefferson does the flute;
Wyndham is good enough to undertake the
violin, and we have got fat professional
for the bass viol who would really aston
! ish you. He comes cheap, on account of
not being able to speak the English Ian
guage; but Jefferson spent a winter In
Vienna once, and seems to make him under
stand very well. Would vOu like a piccolo
or a French horns"
"No, thank you,' said Mr.. Velveton,
lighting his cigar. "But you haven't told
me yet who your serenade is for"
'Miss Walsingham," said Major Milliken,
complacently.
Velveton indulged himself in a long
whistle
"Oh! wouldntr' said he.
"Ehl" calculated the Major.
1T isn't worth WHILE" said VelvetOn, as
suming mysterious air.
"But she's worth seventy five thousand
dollarsl" gasped Major Milliken.
"Seventy-tive thousand fiddle-stringsr'
said Mr.. VelvetOn, suprcmely contemptu-
Gus. "Old fellow, you've been completely
deluded-she hasn't a cent. 1t all belongs
to old Mrs. Button, her aunt. Don't you
understand She-'
At this juncture, however, a hall-boy
from the opposite hotel rushed in with a
telegram for Mr.. Velveton, which required
immediate attention; and Major Milliken
was left stranded among the sheets of
music, a love-lorn Robinson Crusoo on a
desert island of uncertainty.
Mr.. Mark Anthony Velveton did not come
back. He left Long Branch by the next
train, and the broken sentence never was
finished.
But it was lucky circumstance" mused
the Major, THAT he told me about Zuleima
Walsngham before he went away. She is a
pretty creature, but I'm not situated so that
can afford to marry for love. And if it's
Sid Mrs. Button that holds the purse-strings,
hen mean to go in for old Mrs. Button. If
Mr.. Ashmead Bartlett married the Baroness
Burdette Coutts, why can't do the sweetly
sentimental to Mrs. Button, who certainly
lsn't over fifty, and a well-preserved woman
at thatl"
So, with fickleness scarcely to be be-
lieved, Major Milliken began to pay particu.
lar attention to Mrs. Button.
Zulelma Walsingham, dewy-eyed young
beauty with long lashes, pink cheeks and
jet-black hair "banged" over her very eve
Orows, drooped little at this sudden deser-
lion.
IL thought he loved me-" said Miss
Walsingham, dabbing her eyes with her
pocket handkerchief
"Men are hckle, my dear" said Aunt But
ton, who was attiring herself in a dress of
ruby velvet, with diamonds enough TO set
up the wardrobe of Grand Mogul.
"He has done every thing but propose to
me-" said the fair Zuleima, with a Sob
'You didn't really care for him, did you,
my dear!" said Mrs. Button, pausing, with
one diamond ear-drop in her ear and the
other balanced in her hand.
"Y-y-yes," faltered Zuleima, ''Tm afraid
did, Aunt Button!n
"Oh, you-gooSei" said the old lady, en-
phatically.
"But he's 50 handsomep' said Zuleima.
And such fascinating manners never did
see in any man"
"Stuff and non sensep said Mrs. Button.
If girls will be such fools can't blame the
men for imposing on 'em."
And Mrs. Button, considerate old lady
hat she was, never told Miss Walsingham
that. Major Milliken had transferred his
rowing affectious-to all appearance, at least
to her substantial self
LA, Majorp' she had said when the
ardent lover laid his first offering-in the
shape OF a bouquet of tea-rose buds (twentv
of them, at twenty-five cents each) at the
red velvet shrine, 81 don't understand this
At. all. l thought you was sweet on my
niece, Zuleima Walsinghamr'
"Do you suppose, Mrs. Button" said the
Major, dramatically, "that man can wor-
ship pale star when the silver moon her
self is in sightf'
'Well, / don't know about that,u said
Mrs. Button. II never was much of an
astrolog:st. But these roses are very nice,
and I'm sure 1 thank you kindly. AS Tor
the other thing, l suppose there amt no law
against young men changing their minds. so
long as they steer clear of breach-of-p promise
cases.n
"There are times, Mrs. Button, y said the
Major, pathetically, "when a mans heart is
no longer under his own control"
'Dear, dearl" said Mrs. Button
The amateur serenading band made night
melodious in the vicinity of Mrs. Buttons
window (the exact geography of which was
Rscertained by bribe to the hotel porter)
with "Ah, milo cor" "Believe me, if all
those endearing young charms" and such
soulseduclng ballads. By daylight mys-
terious messengers brought baskets of hot
house fruits, carefully bouquets,
French bon-bons and all the latest publica-
tions. with MAJOR Milliken's card.
Really said Mrs. Button, 81 don't know
what TO say"
''Then, dear madam" pleaded the ardent
Major, 'don't say any thing"
he took the old lady out to walk on the
pier when the band played; he read Jean
Ingelow TO her in the evenings, until she
fell fast asleep and snored, he drove her
out on the Beach road, and haunted her
movements like highly-perfumed shadow,
while poor Zuleima Walsingham mourned
in secret. And at last the moment came
in which he judged it wise and expedient 70
tell the story of his love.
Mrs. Buttons proper name, however,
was something OF a stumbling block
'Loruhamahn was mouthful for any one
tospeak "Lo'' was too suggestive OF the