The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-04-11
AN AvENGER.
Her Punishment for Young Men
for Rudeness to Women.

1t was a day of perspiration. Hea,
and humidity had joined forces early il
the morning, and before noon humanity
was routed, and waved the wiItet
handkerchief of capitulation.
A young man entered downtown
elevated station as though he owned it.
No one who watched him would have
been surprised had he displayed night.
key to the ticketpeddler's booth; but
he did not. He haughtily cast down the
half-dime of passage and joined the limp
and draggled wayfarers without.
Had he not been so aggressive in his
bearing, he would have been insignif-
cant. He was very slight; he was short;
he was narrow-chested. His shoulders
were dropping combinations of his
arms. Sparse light hair tanned his
upper lip, which was bracketed by a
supercilious smile. Through gold
trimmed glasses his little eyes squinted
inquisitively. His light summer coat
foated unbuttoned in the breeze, as il
enlarging his presence. His waist was
girded by broad, black sash.
Arthur Chumpney was his name-Mr.
Chumpney of New York City, as he
often proudly proclaimed it. Time had
been, and not four years since, when
Artie Chumpney, Deacon Chumpney's
lad, at Chumpney's Four Corners, Della
ware County, had sufficiently individu-
allied him.
But maternal uncle had wrought a
wondrous change. He had transplanted
this rural squash, and behold! city
pickle had come forth. A real-estate
agents clerk has to be spry; and ere the
warts had faded from his hands Arthur
thought that he ''knew it ALL" No one
could do" him; he was playing ball
every time!
Yet at the Corners he had been
deemed "a pore-sperited coot that never
could do nuthin' an never would"
''He's afeard of his own shadder; an if
you speak up peart or student to him,
he bushes awful, he's so ashamed of
hisself.n
Strange, that environment should so
affect ones nature. And yet, in the
menagerie trade, a leopard is leopard
the world over, and must be sold for
spot cash.
Arthur entered a car and took the
only unoccupied seat. 1t was beside a
woman who was nearer to caps than to
frizzes, and who knew it. There was
no artificial girlishness about her. She
was gaunt and dark and sharp featured.
Her nose was long and piercing, like a
probe; Her eyes asked
a question, and then answered it def
nitely; her arms were anthropoid in
length and articulation; her hands.
which mittens caressed, made one crawl
to look at them. In one of them she
bore reticule. Her brow was bound
by green vail. She alone seemed un-
conscious of the weather. Heat and hui
Nudity, when they had encountered her,
had shrugged their shoulders obviously,
and had passed by on the other side.
She gave Arthur one penetrating
glance, which her nose seemed to saw
was quite sufficient. ''Humphr' she
CALCULATED, and it wrinkled contemptu-
ously.
~ WV tAC Akc<A itOhCSk Out OlCc W De
satisfied. "a curious old jay" he NUT
tered to himself, as he twirled the sparse
hairs into skeleton shape. He lolled as
and as indolently as the
sticky seat would permit, his back half
turned against hers, his legs outstretched
into the aisle, his open coat Tapping
npon either side. He adjusted his
glasses, and, taking a newspaper from
his pocket, began to assimilate the gos-
sip of the day.
The train rolled, it ratified, it
squeaked, it stopped. There was an in
dux Of femininity, heated, wearied,
glowing femininity, clad in the calico
of labor and bearing the basket of econ
,my. They swayed and joited through
he aisle; they hung on the straps, like
70 many Mrs Surratts, As the squeak
ng ceased and the rolling and rafting
'ecommenced. Here and there men,
recu and alert In expression, yet whose
W. unid that business and kindlincss
~ ~ u(oeeqistiA apFspg to their