The herald., 1893-06-25
A NANKEEN JACKET.

Tor yellow.
| confess that adore 1t, notwithstand-
Ing that have good reason to detest it.
Truly, human nature is q bundle of con-
tradictionsl
@ love yellow because of certain cpl
sode in my life which occurred when /
was but 8 years of age. l love nankeen
above all on account of jacket of that
material which played in that episode
an important part.
Our school, which had been placed un-
der the patronage Of st. Elizabeth, was
mixed one-that is to say, up to the
age of 10 years boys and girls worked
and played together In spite of occa-
sional quarrels the system, on the whole,
worked very well.
had not been eight days at st. Eliza
beth's before fell in love. Do not laugh.
loved with all the strength of my child
nature, with q love disinterested, simple,
sincere.
1t was Georgette whom loved, but,
alas, Georgette did not love me.
How much / suffered in consequence.
used to hide myself in corners, shedding
many tears and racking my brains to find
some means Of pleasing the obdurate fair
one. Labor in vain, a thankless task, at
years of age or at 30.
To distinguish myself in my studies,
to win by my exemplary conduct the en-
#comiums Of the sisters Dulorre--all this
made no impression UPON cruel Georg-
cite. She made no secret of her prefer
ence for dull, idle, clustering fellow, 8
years old, who won ali the races, who
could fling ball farther than any one
else. carry two huge dictionaries under
his arm and administer terrible thumps.
This hero was rightly nicknamed Met
a-Mort.
/ knew what his blows were like, hav-
ing been the involuntary recipient of
some of them. Some do, say? | had
received more than dilatory donkey on
the road to the fairl
And Georgette had only laughed
Obviously it was absurd to think of
employing physical force against my re-
doubtable rival. and intellectual superb
ority in this case availed me nothing.
determined therefore 10 annihilate Meta
Mort by my overpowering magnifcence.
Naturally our parents did not send us
the contrary, most Of as wore there our
oldest and shabbiest garments. Conse-
quently l opined that it would be no diff
ficu1t achievement to outshine all my
schoolfellows.
l should have to coax my parents into
loosening their purse strings and get
them to buy me beautiful new jacket.
1t took me q very long time to decide
what color this jacket should be. men
tally reviewed all the colors of the rain
bow. Red tempted me, but | doubted
whether jacket of that color would be
attainable. Should it be blue, green,
indigo, violet? Mol Not one of those
colors was sufficiently striking.
I paused at yellow. That might do
It is q rich color; there is something
sumptuous and royal about it. Summer
was approaching decided finally upon
yellow jacket of nankeen.
Without delay l set to work on my
school garments. It was work of de-
struction, for | wanted to make them
appear as disreputable as possible. |
slyly enlarged the holes, wrenched off
the buttons and decorated my person
lavishly with spots and stains of all
kinds.
In what judged to be an opportune
moment l timidly expressed my desire
had to do more, much more than
that, before / could obtain my will. l
begged, stormed, grumbled, su1ked.
became almost i'll with hope deferred
At length, for the sake of peace, my
parents granted my eccentric wish.
1t was a proud moment for me when
for the first time l arrayed myself in
that resplendent nankeen jacket won at
3 the cost of so many struggles Standing
before the mirror / surveyed myself ad-
niifingly for a full hour. l was grandl
snperb
~ "Ah, my Lord Met-a-Mort, you will
find yourself ousted at lastl My shining
jacket will soon snatch from you the
prestige acquired by your stupid, brute
force. Georgette, astonished, fascinated,
,dazzled and delighted, will run toward
me, for shall now be the handsomest
boy in the school. Met-a-Mort will weep
for chagrin, as have 80 often wept for
jealousy and modification"
Alas, for my rose colored anticipa-
tions! was greeted with broadside
of laughter Even our gentle mistress,
Ermance Dulorre, could not repress a
smile, and above all other voices heard
that of Georgette, who cried nirthfully:
''Oh, look at hint Look at himi He
is canary birdl"
The word was caught up instantly.
All the scholars shouted In chorus: HE
is canaryl A canaryp
si Words fail to describe my bitter dis
appointment, my burning shame and
chagrin. saw my folly now. But it
was too late-the awful deed was donei
Worse than all, in order to obtain this
now odieus jacket had spoiled all my
other jackets and had nothing else to
wear! When ON the evening Of that
most miserable day | told my troubles
10 my father and mother, they were
merely amused and said to me:
.sIt is entirely your own fsult. You
insisted ON having the jacket, and now
you must put up with It'll"
Thus l was condemned to the per-
petual wearing of my yellow jacket,
which entailed upon me no end Of petty
fniseries.
Every day at school I was jeered at