Idaho semi-weekly world., 1890-09-05
A QUADRUPLEX COMPACT
Why a South-Side Residence Win
Soon Be for Rent.

Why a South-Side Residence VIII
Soon Be for Rent.
There was considerable excitement of
q quiet kind in the neighborhood and
not a little cause for it, either. The
roomy house in the middle Of the block,
that had stood empty for several un-
eventful months, had been rented. AT
least the elderly lady who lived on the
corner and offlciated as perambulating
repository OF all the news OF the local
ity confided to the insurance mans
wife, little lower down, that tall
young man with lavender trousers and
eyeglasses had entered the empty house
the previous afternoon and pulled the
"For Rent" card down outof the window.
Moreover, he had driven up in quite
natty cart and had worn light kid gloves
with broad black stitching on the backs,
In addition TO the lavender trousers and
eyeglasses; circumstance that indi-
Gated the new tenant, whoever he was,
TO be a person of perfect respectability.
II there was mild excitement when
the news went about that the house was
rented, 1t ceased to be mild when 1t be-
came known who was to live in 1t, al
though 1t must be confessed that the
excitement was confined principally to
the young ladies residing in the vicin-
ity. The newcomers were nothing less
than four spruce, dapper young men
''four beautiful dudes" as the red
haired girl across the way, who never
appeared in public without her tennis
racquet and terrier pup, expressed it. 1t
gradually became known that the four
young men were guiltless of blood rela-
tionship to one another. They were
simply friends all engaged in business
downtown, all sick OF the nameless
horrors of modern boarding house life,
and all enraptured with tho prospect OF
the stagger at housekeeping they were
about to make.
And II may be said at the outset that .
likelier-looking quartette Of young men,
as young men go nowadays, would have
been hard to discover on the South Side.
They differed somewhat in appearance,
OF course, but each, in addition to the
neat and becoming clothes he wore
bore In some measure the stamp of re-
fnement and intelligence. They were
the kind Of young men who look out o.
place at snide variety show or cock
fight
The neighborhood was curious, the
marriageable female element las before
Intimately especially so to know more
of the latest arrivals than could be
gained by mere ocular observation; anC
II tho neighborhood could have beer
made aware of the peculiar, not to say
unique, compact that bound the quar-
tette together, this curiosity would hav,
been infinitely enhanced.
The surnames of the newcomers d,
not matter; Tom, Dick, Harry and Jacl
will serve to distinguish them. Thei
compact was simply this: Their leas,
ran for two years, and each one of tn,
four was pledged to his fellows not t,
marry or evince any inclination to do s,
until the term had expired. The ex
penses Of housekeeping were to b
shared equally. Each one was to tax,
his turn for week at doing the family
marketing, pay the bills and so on
while an anttquated colored lady hat
been engaged at liberal wage to pre-
side over the kitchen. The terms o
the agreement were ironclad. No mem
Der OF the quartette was to be permittet
to stick the other three If the latte
could help it,
The arrangement, moreover, SCENE,
to work swimmingly. The experimen
was not so costly as 1t might have been
The young men lived comfortably an,
felt contented. They were all musical
and with two mandolins, one guitar an,
one banj 10 manipulated by them, forme
a very respectable string quartotte
Attired in fetching neglige dress, the
: sat in their porch in the languorou
June evenings drumming popular mel
: odies after the healthily enthusiast
manner of amateurs, to the great enjoy
ment tof the families in the vicinity And
OF course, on such occasions, all the al
tractive girls in the block, looking yer,
wholesome in their heecy white frock,
found occasion to pay many visits to tn
corner drug store and back, the rout
taking them, of course, directly past tn
porch wherein the players sat Whe
agroup of them passed by it was tn
habit of the young men to gaze blankl
: mp at the stars, though the gaze wa
. eften productive of discords from Dick
I mandolin that brought wrinkles I
I Toms alabaster forehead
nj.
3 Carrie" said the red-haired girl
Q her chum from vassar one bright mori
t ing shortly after the last of the youn
, men over the way had gone down tow
d al think that little dude who wears th
black sash and the cute straw hat
Q simply lovely. wish knew him."
Tot" rejoined the Vassar girl, wit
Q a reproving look on her classic feature
d show can you say such things? Bat
Q don't really think that one is as han,
|. aome, and he is certainly not so di
$ tinguished. looking as the tall one wit
!. the lavender-ahem! the lavender
t mean the one who wears light clothes.
:, That afternoon Tot, the red-haire
: girl, tennis racquet. terrier pup and al
Q was drinking glass OF that concoctio
composed principally of sugar and wine
but which is known to the general pul
lie as soda" at the little store kept b
: the French lady two streets away, whe
who, of all people in the world, shoul
walk in but Dick his loins pirdled wit