Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1890-08-22
A QUADRUPLEX COMPACT
Why a South-Side Residence Will
Soon Be for Rent,

There was considerable excitement of
quiet kind in the neighborhood and
not little cause for it, either. The
roomy house in the middle of the block,
that had stood empty for several UNI
eventful months, had been rented. At
least the elderly lady who lived on the
corner and officiated as perambulating
repository of all the news of the local
ity confded 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 out of the window.
Moreover, he had driven up in quite a
natty cart and had worn light kid gloves
with broad black stitching on the backs,
In addition to the lavender trousers and
eyeglasses; a circumstance that indi-
Gated the new tenant, whoever he was,
to be person of perfect responsibility.
II Chere 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 it, al
though it 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 mem
flour 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-
tlonship to one another. They were
simply friends, all engaged in business
lown-t town, all sick of the nameless
horrors of modern clearinghouse life,
and ali enraptured with the prospect of
the stagger at housekeeping they we're
about to make.
And itmay be said at the outset that a
likelier-looking quartette of young men,
rs 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-
finement and intelligence. They were
the kind Of young men who look out OF
place at snide variety show or cock
fight
The neighborhood was curious, the
manageable female element las before
intimately especially so, to know more
OF the latest arrivals than could be
gained by nero ocular observations; and
IL the neighborhood could have been
made aware Of the peculiar, not to say
unique, compact that bound the quar-
tette together, this curiosity would have
been infinitely enhanced.
The surnames of the newcomers dc
not matter; Tom, Dick, Harry and Jack
will serve to distinguish them. Theil
compact was simply this: Their lease
ran for two years, and each one of the
four was pledged to his fellows not tt
marry or evince any inclination to do sc
until the term had expired. The ex
penses Of housekeeping were to be
shared equally. Each one was to take
his turn for week at doing the family
marketing, pay the bills and SO on
while an Anticipated colored lady hat
been engaged at a liberal wage to pre-
side over the kitchen, The terms o
the agreement were ironclad. No mem
Der Of the quartette was to be permitted
to stick the other three if the latter
could help 1t.
The arrangement, moreover, seemed
to work swimmingly. The experiment
was not SO costly as it might have been
The young men lived comfortably ant
felt contented. They were all musical
and with two mandolins, one guitar ant
one banjo manipulated by them, forme,
very respectable string quartette
Attired in fetching neglige dress, the.
sat in their porch in the dangerous
June evenings drumming popular mel
odies after the healthily enthusiast
manner Of amateurs, to the great enjoy
mentof the families in the vicinity. And
of course, on such occasions, all the al
tractive girls in the block, looking verl
wholesome in their tleecy white frocks
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
group of them passed by it was tn
habit of the young men to gaze blank
up at the stars, though the gaze wa
often productive of discords from Dick
mandolin that brought wrinkles t
Toms alabaster forehead.
Carrie said the red-haired girl
hor chum from Vassar one bright morr
ing shortly after the last of the youn
men over the way had gone downtown
al think that little dude who wears tn
hack sash and the cute straw hat
simply lovely. wish knew him."
Tot" rejoined the Vassar girl, VT
reproving look on her classic feature
.'how can you say such things? Bat
don't really think that one is as han'
some. and he is certainly not so di
tinruished. looking as the tall one wit
The layender--ahemlS the lavender
mean the one who wears light clothes
That afternoon Tot, the red-haire
girl, tennis racquet terrier pup and al
was drinking a glass of that eoncoctio
composed principally Of sugar and win.
hu, which IL krewr % the general pu