Evening journal., 1891-06-23
PARTY'S POPPER.

nate rougnlng IL, SIMPLY because nau
known what really roughing it meant for
five years, and after five years experience
roughing tito use an Americanism-ha
come to kinder pail.
was not sorry to wash my hands Of
| America, Of its dreadful climate, and of its
dreadful people. / do not want to be un.
| grateful, but the whole of my time in
| America had been passed in Firetail can
| yon, and the people | met in Firetail can
| yon were decidedly dreadful; and when /
turned my back on Firetail canyon and,
| metaphorically speaking, shook the dust
off my feet against America, / was de
| lighted; for was tired OF the brutal, un-
| civilized, sordid life, and the exceedingly
brutal, unclvilized, sordid people whom it
had been my misfortune to have to associ-
ate with in Firetail city.
The fact is, had been engineer to the
| Uncle Dudley silver mine, and having so
TO say-speaking IN quite an humble way,
| you know-made my pile, / was coming
home to England on six months leave,
with the intention of bettering myself, If
| possible, and OF not returning to America,
| Firetail canyon nor the Uncle Dudley mine,
| If l could help it, l carried my little fort
une Of 10000 on my person in thousand
dollar notes. 1t was stupid thing to do;
! did IL to avoid loss on exchange.
| had four delightful days on the Bithy-
MIA. Ineed not describe the Bithynia-you
all know the Bithynia These four days
were peculiarly delightful, because they
were passed in the society of Parthenia
Persimmon. Parthenia was eighteen; she
had lips ruddier than the cherry and ripper
than the berry-they were arched like
! Cupid's bow; and on her cheek the lily and
the rose, and innumerable dear, delightful
dimples struggled for mastery. Her lux
uriant hair was delicious golden brown
but need not say any more; it will save
your time and mine if / state that Par
thenia Persimmon was Duck of Dia-
monds You know what | mean9 Ex-
actly so.
II you ask me how Parthenia and EN-
ployed our time during those four days
fear l must reply, SIN delicious daliiance, y
which is a poetic phrase and expressive.
We had never seen each other in our lives
before, and my Party's pepper was lying
in his stateroom very sea sick indeed.
Parthenia is such a mouthful, you know,
and she has hidden me to call her Party on
the third day Of dalliance) "Popper al
ways calls me Party" she had observed.
may explain here that pepper is American
for father
As yet had not seen Party's pepper, but
on the fourth day of dalliance gentleman
of fifty, looking very green, indeed, about
the gills, was introduced to me by Par.
thenia as that relative.
Party's pepper was evidently gentle
man. He was very quiet, he dressed un
obtrusively, he did not talk politics. and
he spoke particularly we'll, throwing in an
occasional archaic word or two, which
gave certain special flavor and pictur
esqueness to that clear, cold, genuine En-
glsh of his.
was rather sorry to see Party's pepper
No more moonlight walks on the saloor
deck, l thought; the days Of dallianc,
are over. Perhaps he would ask my inten
tions. l did not mind that particularly
for my intentions were strictly honorable
but-and it was a very big but indeed
had no idea in the world of the position
in life of Party OF Party's pepper That i
the difficulty about travelling Americans
it is impossible to judge of their position
by their clothes, or their luggage, or thei
talk.
OF one thing alone can you be certain
If an American man or woman sports jew
elry save at a ball or a big dinner, theI
you may be sure that he or she is "shoddy.
. There was nothing "shoddy" about Per
simmon OF his daughter. The fathe
. sported a three and half dollar Water
bury and a steel guard. That gave m,
0 courage. ~ don'twant money" though
to myself. II am desperately in love will
D Parthenia. and have $4,000 I'll propose t
8 her."
' did propose to her.
Q "You know nothing Of me, Mr.. st. John,
she said in astonishment. She said grea
deal more. So did The interview ende,
, by her telling me to see as much of he
0 pepper as possible, and to try and "ge
\ down his baekn understood enough o
the American language to know what sh
Z meant.
4 Mr. Persimmon and grew very friend
! ". We saw a good deal of each other, an
( in the evening we went into the smokin
room and we played at poker. When
say ''we' l mean that did; for Mr.. Per
simmon declared that he did not "kno'
enough about cards. confess that
a played a little higher than / could afford
q with the idea of dazzling Mr.. Persimmo
Q and so creating a favorable impression
a which is what Parthenia meant by gettin
down his back.
If had not been so taken up with Pa
& ty / might have discovered in time tina
o Colonel Jabez Jackpotts, Senator Pa
}, Straddle and DR.. Clapperton Fudge wer
professional sharpers. On one fatal nigh
" they won five-sixths of my little fortune
% exactly S25000 1t happened this wise
a The game of poker stripped of its detail
le is very much like the old fashioned gam
n Of brag. As played in the smoking ROOF
,r Of the Bithynia, the first player puts up
Ii. e., stakes a small sum; those who d.
cline TO play throw down their cards, an
lie the next man to the left exercises his ol
sr tion of raising the stake, or "going be
K ter" This goes on ad intinitum till tho.
who are betting against the first man d.
cline to stake more money, when the oths
st players show their hands in succession
4. and the highest hand wins everything al
IF less the original player exhibits high,
v. one, or puts up stake so high that Il
Sd others refuse TO cover it. in which case the
Is all pay up TO him and look as pleasant
they can. II this takes place, though
takes the money, he does not show
a lards His hand may, in fact conta