News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-02-19
STARERS REBUKED.
Peculiar Result of the Presence of Three
GirIs ia Nassau Street.

Peculiar Result of the Presence of Three
Girls iH Nassau Street.
1t isn't often that the penalty for
staring at a pretty girl is so severe as
that which befell four prosperous Git
zens one day in Nassau street. A party
of three unusually pretty young women,
on the way, no doubt, to the Stock
Exchange gallery, were walking along
the east sidewalk, from Cedar toward
Wall street. just befoEe2 o'clock. Such
attractive visitors TO this sordid quarter
of the town are not very numerous,
and the girls found themselves the OBJ
ject of a good deal of attention from
the hurrying throng of bankers, brokers
and clerks.
The stone tagging on the block has
been worn very smooth, and the mes
senger boys had taken advantage of
the thin covering of ice to make doz-
en- or two very slippery little slides,
each six to ten feet long. A foot care
lessly planted upon one of these pol
ished streaks was pretty sure to start
off suddenly in the direction in which
there was least resistance The walk
was not so crowded but that everybody
could see just where the dangerous
spots lay. and could avoid them by
making ordinary use of their eyes.
The block was safe enough until the
three girls came along, But during
the seventy-five seconds which they oc-
cupied it, briskly walking from corner
to corner, no less than four men went
sprawling to the ground. Three of the
victims were walking toward the young
women. and in turn went head over
heels right ia their path.
The fourth had passed them and
rashly turned his head to look back.
He was the most demoralized of all the
victims He was an old man, appaP
emily a retired banker. and very digni-
fed. The expression of his face when
he suddenly went to earth would make
the fortune of the artist who could re-
produce it. His tall hat went into the
gutter, the peculiar twisting of his jaw
suggested a misplaced set of false teeth,
and a most amazing shifting of his scalp
lock betrayed the fact that his thin
iron gray hair was cleverly construct
ed wig.
His descent was SO terrific that the
shock caused the young women to look
around and attracted a small crowd.
The shock was so severe that the vic
tim gave no thought to the cause of his
downfall. Not 80 the other three vic
Tins They were not hurt physically,
but three more shamefaced men never
cut ludicrous figure at particularly
embarrassing moment They seemed
to realize in an instant that everybody
could see just how it happened, and
the half repressed wrinkles in the
eyes of the young women, whose prog
ress was momentarily blocked, added
to their confusion.
The girls did not seem to understand
the significance of the series of acct
dents until the third man went down.
When they began to realize that they
were responsible for the abiect though
involuntary homage that was being
paid them they almost lost control of
their own equilibrium. When the
fourth individual, a pompous, fat gen.
tleman, dressed in faultless style. went
prone upon his face the girls could con-
troll themselves no longer They bur-
led their noses in their muffs and fed
across the street.-New York Sun.