The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1893-02-25

had bought It of the Macgregors uae
trouble would not be remedied, for che
Turner's would still think queerly oi
the Macgregors. No; the red gown had
come to stay. 1t loomed up like a fort
ress in our pathway to happiness.
Meanwhile Satan chucSled in demoniac
glee. As for myself have been, OIL
so very miserable. l have never been
particularly proud man; neither my
nature nor my profession has served to
promote spirit of pride within me.
Yet here l find myself neglecting the
volume on "Insectivorous Articula4
tions," which have agreed to have
ready for the printer in March, and am
haunted by feelings of resentment day
and night, simply because am unwill-
ing that folk should think me so brutal
husband as to compel Mrs. Thimble
to get her clothes from the neighbors
Meanwhile the complication gets all
the more tangled up. The Macgregors
are being invited out great deal, and,
as luck insists upon having it, the
Turner's are everywhere, too-at par
ties, receptions, balls, dinners, thea
ters-yea, though Adelaide Lucy Mac.
gregor were to take the wings of the
morning and fly to the uttermost parts
of the EARTH lol the Turner's would be
there, too, providing always Adelaide
Lucy Macgregor was wearing that
hateful, that ominous red gown.
On one occasion, Mrs. Turner, de-
ceived by that abominable gown, has
addressed Mrs. Macgregor as Mrs.
Thimble, only to be acquainted of her
mistake by naughty answer and
freezing, whitening glance.
Macgregor, naturally proud and sem
sitive, has fallen into a kind of mono-
mania that distresscs us all sorely. 1t
is his fancy that wherever he goes peo-
pie are pointing the finger of scorn at
him and are taunting him with the cry:
"Hhere goes the husband of the woman
who wears her sisters red gown!"
Macgregor's magnificent Caledonian
physique is sure to break under this
strain; it is only a question of time.
Mrs. Thimble has given up society
altogether; if you did not see her at the
bazaar last month, or at Swartout's
dinner last Thursday, or at the Wither-
spoons reception last Tuesday, it was
because remorse over that abominable
red gown has immured her a sorrowing
prisoner within the walls of our blighted
home.
AS for myself, l am, as l have already
confessed, fast approaching the hope
less condition of total wreck. Only
an hour ago l made up my mind to
take manly, heroic stand against Sa-
tan, who, ! repeat, is at the bottom of all
this mischief. l was seeking to follow
the intricacies and convolutions of
Pettit's logarithm 39, and was about to
prove the cube of the hypothenuse of
an isosceles triangle squared by the
parallax, when suddenly realization
of my shames as an abettor of the fraud
attempted by that everlasting red gown
entered and filed my mind to the utter
exclusion of every pure and holy
thought. Then, goaded by this hid
eous wrath, l arose and cried aloud: st
will endure this no longer. Like Luther
of old, will hurl my inlIstand at the
foul tiend that has devised and wrought
all this wretchedness! 1 will make
full and explicit confession of the
u 'lOlli anu Will SGllu IL 10 Ine L turner's
in order that they, and if needs be all
the world, shall know how penitent l
am"
When the Macgregors come over to-
night l shall read them what 1 have
written. Then, if Mrs. Thimble and
they approve what 1 have said, this
confession shall be signed in the man
ner of a rOund-rObin. for trulv we have
all sinned alike and our penitence
should be expressed in a common utter
ance. l fear that, at the last moment,
Mrs. Thimble, who is as proud as she
is beautiful, will demur, and in that
event l shall tell her that what have
written is not so much confession of
as warning against the sinful, blight
ing sweets of borrowe ed red gown. -
Eugene Field, in Chicago News Record.