St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1893-06-17
THAT YELLOW CUSHION.
Ite Contents Gave q Start to .
Foolish Couple.

It was a sofa cushion Of faded yellow
silk, badly stained in half . dozen
. places and clumsily ripped down one
edge. A handsome buhl cabinet wa
its resting place and it stood in the
smaller drawing-roomL
Everything else around was hand.
some and tasteful, the general scheme
of the coloring being . brownish red
The bilious staring yellow OF that
dilapidated cushion was the one incon.
gruous spot and the eye was irresisti-
bly, drawn to il.
None of the family ever even men
toned the yellow sofa cushion. though
/ often noticed one or other Of them
would turn toward the buhl cabinet
and stare at its contents thOughtfully.
However, the tale came out 1t last
without my asking for it. I was dining
at the house one Christmas day. and
my host lifted his glass and said:
''My dear, in remembrance of the old
yellow cushion, the best Christmas box
we ever had" and then the pair OF
them drank the toast
Nothing more was said then. but
afterward in the small drawing room
my hostess nodded toward the buhl
cabinet and asked IL I knew the histc-
ry of its curious contents. Issid: mo"
She seemed surprised.
Il thought Douglas (her husband)
had told you the story years ago. but
rs he hasn't I'll take upon myself to do
Il now. 1t will be something to talk
about. and we old folks are often hard
put to it to find subjects for conversa-
ticn.
"Now, you always took rs for rich
squatters from Australia, didn't you?
Perhaps, then. if you didn't know
you'll be surprised to hear that We had
another life before that, life in the
whirl of society in London, . life as
different from the other as possibly
could be invented or even imagined.
1--WE married very young. Douglas
and l. He was Just Of age and was
only eighteen when we set up house
keeping ON our csvn account. and I'm
afraid we were both very. very brain
less. We'd got plenty Of money. and
our one idea was to have as good .
time MS possible.
1--WE went everywhere, did every
thing and lived in ducai magnifcencc.
The expenses we werc let into were
something awful to contemplate and
our limited income went NO way to
meet them; but to withdraw from the
scene was q thing which we were far
too young and happy and foolish even
70 think OF, SO we kept on dipping into
the capital time after time only just
for this once
ut will complete the sum Of our
fooIishness when tell you that jew
clrv was one of our greatest extrava-
rances Idoted on gene. and Douglas
loved to see me wear them; he said
that I set them of 50 WELL and so they
were . good investment or something
usually witty. And We got more and
more hard up snd had fewer and fewer
resources to draw upon; and yet We
gave small thought for the future then.
SO happy was our present
.1Dne morning . crash came. We
woke MP to find out that my jewel box
had been plundered. BY afternoon I'll
london was ringing with the news OF
the robbery. 1t was 90 odd In its de-
tails Nothing but stones had been
t.kea away. The gems had been
forced from the settings and the bat
tered roldwork left Uttered In IN un'
tidy hear
"Under the public attention which
their efforts. the police au-
thorities strained every nerve. They
the house for signs from cei-
lar TO garrett They watched suspicious
persons. They had theories innumer-
able. They confidently expected 70
Law hands on the thief tomorrow.
"But nothing came of 1t. The dsaiy
bulletin. in the papers became shorter.
and at length ceased; and in . montn,s
time We ourselves had given mp al
hope of seeing the jewels again: Torn
from their settings they would o. essi-
ly carried away and disposed OF; and.
moreover, il vas probable that most
of them had been reground. so Is TO re-
move the faintest chance OF Sdent'ncs-
tion.
ITO any couple possessed OF the least
grain of sense the loss would nave
been . warning. but to us It seemed
only . spur to new ext-svagsnce.
Douglas said life would b unendurs
shle wtthout new jewslsy, end !