The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1893-06-30

spend twice as much as is necessary.
They are selling them at McCraw's to-
day for two dollars and ninety-seven
cents. They are part of the holiday
stock, left over made no further OBJ
lection, and the next day we had a BAN
quet lamp in our little parlor 1t was
all out of harmony with the dainty fur
nishings which my sisters had selected
for me; but then, my wife said, it was
worth at least five dollars, and so we
had made quite saving in getting it.
My wife's passion for the bargain
counter now began to rage unre
strained. Every day think she found
something in the advertising columns
OF the papers which fed her appetite for
shopping and satisfied this craving for
saving money! as she called it. One
day she would buy quantity of green
ribbon, and explain to me that she
thought she might want green dress
some day; then she would haunt the
stores for the material for that green
dress, Her taste ranged through the
whole catalogue of purchasable arti
cles.
zone evening my mother met me on
my way home. Il have just left Anita,
she said. Tell me, John, why you have
crowded all those ugly chairs and things
into your pretty apartment. There is
hardly room to turn around / made
some excuse. / could not bear to blame
Anita. even to my mother. But when
l got home and looked about our little
parlor-so dantily furnished when we
moved into it, now crowded to over
flowing with the cheap, unstable furni
| ture and bric-a-brac of the bargain
stores-my mothers words brought the
| full contrast before my mind, and
| groaned aloud. spoke to Anita serious
| ly, that night; but the first words brought
such an unhappy expression to her face
that l stopped 1t was all wrong, per-
haps, but I said to myself it was all
done for me, and surely should not re-
| proach her with it,
II need not follow my little wife's
| progress in detail. want to bring you
| down to the time when she began to
make me more personally a victim to
her mania. Look at these gloves, old
| man, and these things, and this"
He held out his hands toward me, and
| then pointed to his shoes and crayat.
He had been putting on his gloves as he
| talked. AS looked at them saw that
his fingers pointed at me through gap.
ing holes, while the skin at the base OF
his thumb was pushing It's way out at a
broken seam. On his feet were over
shoes that opened at dozen places as
he twisted his foot in pushing it for.
ward, And his cravat! Poor old man.
! He was considered a connoisseur oil
necllwear at the club.) His cravat
looked as though it was made of cotton,
and, though it was evidently new, il
was already frayed at the edges.
"These gloves were eighty-three
cents, believe" he said, mournfully.
santa bought them for me at Her.
ricl1's. She got six pair two weeks ago.
This is the third. These overshoes
they gave away with pair of shoes at
Busbeys, The cravat was bought fo,
some marvelously small figure at Bait
lands. AS you may believe, old man,
l fell an unwilling victim. But
could refuse to wear the gloves that
Anita had bought for me, when she
had waited her turn at the counter
for nearly an hour? or the cravat that
she herself had selected; which
she thought SO pretty and so
cheap? l was too tender-hearted in
the old days, you often told me. I
could not wound my little wifes feel.
ings. / have deceived her in one thing,
and it makes me very unhappy to think
of it. persuaded old Hilton TO make
me pair of shoes which would fit me,
in exact imitation of the three-dollar
pair which she had found, 1t cost me
fifteen dollars, and the old fellow said,
with tears in his eyes, that his reputa-
ton was at stake. He gave the other
pair to poor colored man of his ac-
| quaintance; but Anita is none the
wiser, and she thinks to-day that am
wearing those shoes. don't mind Sc
much the looking shabby in ready.
made clothing and hats of last years
pattern and of doubtful make; but a.
least my shoes must fit"
He sat brooding for few minutes Il
wanted to comfort him, but 1 knew no
way to do it. broke the silence pres
emily by asking if there had been any
| change for the better recently, He
shook his head sadly. ''None," he
said. ''The mania seems to take
stronger hold every day. There
is only one thing to be done; must re-
move her from temptation. If 1 could
afford it, Iwould go to Hayti or Samoa,
where the demand for clothing is neces,
sarily limited, and the furnishing of a
house is simplicity itself But am too
poor for that now. However, through
my fathers political influence l have
had a consular appointment promised
me In some far-away corner of the
world where shops are few Removed
from the temptations which surround
her here, perhaps Anita may be restored
to mental health. 1t is all that l car
do"
We parted. A few days later I saw
the announcement in the dispatches
from Washington of his appointment
to a consulate. shall not say where
he has gonei for am quite sure that
if it were known Anita would be
deluged with dry-goods catalogues.
At least, it is far enough removed from
the region of the bargain-counter to ef-
feet a cure-if one IS Observation-Disclosures
Grantham Raln, in Demotest's Maga-
EiinRe,. gins. -
| The Girl with Three Beaux.
| The story of Mirandolina reminds
Boston woman of another story" Al
| girl she knew when she was vOunp had