The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-22
THE FIvE-STRlNGED BANJO.
From the london Truth.

ing up music with white. bejewelled hands,
and flirting vigorously with her gentlemen
customers. She was a sight for the gods
not for the goddesses, though. No female,
human or divine. could ever have been
found TO say a good word for Miss jose
phine. Ladies in Seacliff had even been
heard to allude to her as mink" aad to
deplore the infatuation which led young
men TO desert charming girls Of their own
station for the vulgar. sniggerings of that
shop girl on the Parade. This criticism,
however, was not without prejudice, for
the ladies who made these remarks liked
Irritation themselves and had it, too
when they could get (which was not,
however, always, for in Seacliff the ladies
outnumbered the gentlemen by nearly two
to one.
But, although Miss Josephine fiirted in
! dlscrlmlna tely with every man she met,
simply because 1T was her nature to- and
she couldn't help il, she had a certain
small coterie of admirers, whom she treat
ed with particular favor. This coterie con-
sisted OF nve young men, and some was,
with more wit than was usually to be
found in the Seachm humorists, had evOlv-
ed for her the punning and appropriate
nickname of The Five-stringed Ban
| TO-"
Oh that silver string How truly divine
was its music. Many other ladies besides
| Miss Josephine had come under its be-
| witching influence. The first time 1t in-
toned the prayers in Seaclif parish church
a gross and half of feminine devotees
bowed the head and worshipped. Before
/ the sermon was half finished that sun
| day, 200 tender hearts were fiuttering III
4 side an equal number of smart summer
/ blouses. Twas not merely the new Gu
I no "a -.Haa l. a.. H..
/ merely the graceful hang Of his surplice,
/ nor the sublime set of his stOle--not merely
| tlfe righteous fervor of his roaming eye
| these, indeed, had their influence, but
! above all, je ne sails quot fascination in
/ the man himself, which no male mind
| could appreciate and no female heart re-
sist.
| When it became noticed-and you may
/ be sure that this didn't take long IN a
! place like Seacliff-that the Reverend
| Brabazon A. Il. c. Fitch was constantly
buying music in the shop on the Paraie
/ the ladies of the place grew very angry.
Now, if there was one girl in the place
/ excluding for the moment the five-string =
ed banjo to whom the curate could be
said to pay attention. that girl was Tshy
| Bullock. Her full name was Letitia, and
she was the daughter of wealthy widow,
/ who lived in a large house just outside
the town. Tishy was a pretty girl. con-
]
/ its long or its shortened form. She was
\ an only child-the future heiress, under
/ settlement, of her mothers money. The
4 curate began by being polite to her He
| was-there is no doubt about it, though
| it occurred in the modest society of Sea-
cliff-in fact, encouraged to be more than
! polite. You see, Tishy didn't want money.
She did want birth, refinement, a sympa-
4 thetic helpmeet. And what man better
! fulfilled these requirements than Bra
! bacon Fitch? To one Bullock bank
| ing account add one Flitch's blood and
/ birth. What was the answer Tishy tbr-
/ ted up the SUM and found it came TO
social success. Mrs Bullock checked her
figures and pronounced them correct. The
result was that Brabazon Fitch became
conspicuously persona grata at West
combe house
This, of course, excited remark in Sea-
! cliff. People soon had stiI more inter
esting news to gossip about. Brabazon
/ Fitch had been seen coming out of the
| five-suinged banjo's fathers private door,
| and the five-stringed banjo's father had
| followed him on to the step, with a red
/ face and choleric demeanor. The infer
/ ence was obvious. Brabazon Fitch had
| been called to account by Bannister Sc
| Nor for trifing with his daughters affec-
/ tons; and whatever explanation he might
/ have given of his conduct had clearly not
| satisfied the indignant father. In church
next Sunday, Brabazon was observed to be
nervous and distressed. On the left Of the
middle aisle, where the ladies sat, many
! eyes shown with watery sympathy Tishy
was observed to turn pale; Mrs. Bullock
i got her smelling salts ready in case she
should faint away
At present other people only surmised
and guessed the facts. Tishy and her
mother knew them-from Brabazoh's own
lips. The previous day he had called at
Westcombe house, and, discarding all re-
! serve and false modesty, had poured the
whole story of his trouble into Mrs. Bull
/ locks sympathetic ear. He had been lit
| tie foolish-he owned-to have gone so fire.
quently to Bannister's shop. He had
/ yes, he had been attracted just at first,
/ by Miss Bannister's superficial beauty,
| and, no doubt, he had talked to her more
/ than was prudent. Then he had a hint
| from a kind friend that his visits to the
music shop were getting talked about He
/ at once discon tinued these visits And
/ what had been his reward? He had been
/ summoned by her father to an interview.
! in which he (the father had adopted a
| high-handed. bullying tone; had demanded
whether he meant to marry his daughter
whom he would as soon have thought
/ of marrying as flying over the moon.
He Brabazon) was quite at his wits
ends to know what to do. The girls IA
/ Their had given him week to decide in,
and the week expired next Monday, I'm
/ less by that day he received from Braba-
/ zon a written undertaking to marry Jo-
sephine, he should not only take the first
4 opportunity of assaulting the curate in
/ the street, but proceedings you'd immedi-
ately be instituted to recover damages
/ from him at law.
Either of these steps would be fatal
to me-" said the unhappy curate land
both together would simply crush me. If
/ you, dear friend, could advise me what
to do for the best, you would lay me under
/ an eternal obligation"
IT'S a shameful, scandalous conspira-
cy," exclaimed Tishy's mother, with in
/ dignation. 81 should be disposed Toto
simply defy the wretch"
| "But think what that would mean, dear
| friend. A layman might take this course,
no doubt. But a minister of God-how is
he to face it? The mere fact Of having
such accusations publicly brought against
him is sufficient to ruin him, even though
they be not substantiated. And these peo-
| pie, having gone so far already will not.