River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-09-03
MAKING A SHOW.
Young Men, Beware of Sailing
Under False Colors.

Eyes, uncle" said |. in an airy, off
hand way which did not at all betray
the depth of my curiosity. 4 am sure
you must have had ample opportunity
TO see the cream of society and make
suitable choice of companion
We'll" said he, Il will tell you, and
the story may be a good subject for
your dreams of future speculation.
''When l was a young man l was
rather fond of making a good show in
society. At times this was performed
on very limited capital. Shortly after
j settled in New York ] made the ac-
quaintance of beautiful and estima-
BILE young lady, Miss CloriDda Swan,
and j lost no time in paving the way
for matrimonial alliance with her.
lone evening the su inject of con-
versation between us ran upon operas,
and the upshot of it was that | invited
Clorinda to go to the Academy of Mu-
sic the next evening. As | have said.
my means were then rather limited,
and now had just enough left to pay
for the tickets, but no surplus for car
plus for carriage, supper and etceteras.
With these l determined to dispense, as
I0OuSHJ NY AdlF CtoIAuNtd W d. Noo
sensible to notice the loss.
Fortune favored me at the start;
the evening was fine and the ground
dry, so at the appointed time l made
my appearance, dressed in the best |
could afford, and waited patiently for
Clorinda. She soon put all my fears
on the carriage question to flight by
assuring me that she preferred walk
ing.
1--WE chatted gayly on the way to the
academy, and were in due time for
performance, which was the opera of
Martha with Nine. Parepa-Rosa in
the leading role. OF the performance
/ need not speak. The opera was all
that we could desire, and was rem
dered most admirably.
when the performance was over
we descended the stairs amid the gay
throng, and soon reached the sidewalk.
But, oh, horror of horrors! it was rain
ingi What was l to do? To get a
carriage, without having a cent to pay
for it. made my blood run cold. A
happy thought occurred to me in d
moment, and in a nervous whisper /
]
To my dismay she answered:
'''No; my boots are very light, too,
and could not think of walking We
must get a carriage
''Of course there was nothing left
for me but to face the music, and
hailed one of the many drivers who
were anxious to get passengers. | as
sisted my fair Clorinda to a seat, and
in few moments we were whirling
along through the rain. Hardly had
we gone two blocks when Clorinda
said she was hungry, and asked me to
stop and get supper. My feelings can
easier be imagined than described as |
thought of my empty pockets, and
tried to reason her ont of eating SO
late at night. All my arguments were
fruitless, however. for my dear
Clorinda was not to be thwarted
Thinking that fortune might be-
friend me by some means then a mys-
terry to me, l ordered the driver to stop
at the nearest restaurant. We entered
the saloon and took seats at a table in
the center of the room. | determined
to eat as little as possible, but Clorinda
was not by any means so delicate, and
quietly took the liberty of ordering
what she wanted In vain | looked
around to see if by chance the saloon
contained an acquaintance, but to my
dismay not familiar face was To be
seen.
las You may imagine, was not in a
hurry to leave the table, but my com
panion began to show strong signs of
restless anxiety to get home. so |
thought I'd better start and have it
over as soon as possible.
II had formed many plans of how l
was to pacify the cashier at the desk,
but the wretch had more human nature
in him than imagined.
while walking down the saloon |
turned to Clorinda and suggested that
she had better go out and get into the
carriage while | was settling the bill
and buying some cigars, which | want
ed to take with me. To this she made
no objection, as luck would have i
II walked on till | came in front of
the smiling individual who was wait
ing for payment. and with as bold an
air of innocence as / could assume /
told him | had forgotten my pocket
book in the hurry of getting ready for
the theater, but l would call next day
and settle the bill.
Too thin story to pass here. sir
he calculated We do strictly cash
business.
81 don't want to be bullied about
such trifie.' / continued. but the man
bad completely changed into a hog by
this time. and coming out from his
place behind the desk, he looked wick
ed enough to choke me then and there.
81 viii call a policeman and have
you arrested he said, in a menacing
tone, loud enough TO be heard by all
the people in the saloon.
MY blood boiled at the insulting
manner of the man, and lost all con-
troll over my actions.
"'Get out of my way and let me
pass, you red-headed scoundrelr |
said as made dash for the door.
"A general scufiie ensIed, and ] be-
lieve / was giving him a few we'll
aimed blows. when, to my horror.
policeman rushed in and collared me
as roughly as if l had been mailman
. What's this all about?' he de-
manded of the clerk, who was blind
with rage.
ARREST that man and take him to
the station-ho house. and | will go down
and make q charge against him.
but let me explain, / cried, in a
loud tone.
Explanations at the statiOn-house,
said the officer, as he dragged me into
the street, where crowd of idlers had
already gathered to see the fun.
"As / reached the sidewalk ] saw
the carriage drive off at rapid rate.
learned afterward that Clorinda be-
came alarmed for her own safety. and
promised the driver a liberal reward if
he would drive TO her fathers house.
This made matters worse, for it looked
as if she was an accomplice of mine,
and fed for fear of arrest.
Imagine the state of my feelings as
was maashaled through the streets,
with five hundred urchins yelling all /
around mel When we reached the po-
lice station the usual preliminaries
were gone through. The restaurant