Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1895-02-12

MS.' -, H. -
creed by fate to wear it in the common
place atmosphere of mercantile life,
but thus it was.
To hid Mr.. Podd on Sunday
afternoon, or on some evening, after
| the multitudinous affairs of business
had ceased until the morrow, one would
almost have been led to believe that
the baptismal pane was scarcely ade-
cuate to the Ian, for when Mr.. Podd
had cast aside the enthralling shackles
of dependent circumstances and stood
forth in the full freedom of a small
salarieJ clerk off duty, he might readily
have teen mistaken for railroad mag
nate, - a bank official with an evident
incli1,tion toward some country where
extradition law is not.
A such periods it required an ex-
ceedingly imaginative brain to grasp
the thought that the individual who
whirled past in the newest, and most
stylish of rigs-to the utter humiliation
of his weeks salary-or who occupied
one of a reserved pair of orchestral
chairs, front. was but the same person
who smilingly tore down one side of a
dry goods esta blishment to enable
some undecided female to select spool
of thread, or who rewound yards upon
yards of Hamburgs and other decora-
tive goods which similar consistent
creatu had examined with a thor
oughness known only to the feminine
mind
! Mr.. Podd cherished intentions, which,
If rightly matured as they certainly
would be in the course of human events,
would give to his existence that couleur
de rose which the poets affirm consti-
tutes earthly felicity.
Mr.. Podd's intentions were of a matri-
monial nature.
He loved
In this case the sentiment was a
species of mild insanity that often at
tacks young men of marriagable age
and an interchangeable salary, and Mr..
Podd exhibited many of the symptoms
in an aggravated form.
He took in two or three extra squares
each day in walking to and from his
place of business that he might pass
the abode which sheltered the idol OF
his soul, and, perchance, be rewarded
by smile, or bow of recognition from
the fair occupant.
The fair being who thus agitated the
placidity of Mr.. Podd's existence was
Miss Melinda Smythe-her father
spelled it Smith in bygone days
This maiden dwelt with her mother,
whose small income was obtained by
working early and late at .dressmak-
ing.
Miss Melinda led lily-of-the-feld
existence, and while her mother
drudged and cooked, and sewed
in the little back room, her daughter
received in the front apartment, OF
went out to concerts and theaters, from
which she brought back lyrical souven
IRIS to be distributed, with the aid of a
cheap rented piano, to the neighbor-
hood at frequent intervals.
From the department of Miss Melinda
In public, one was led to regret that a
life of fashionable dissipation had
brought ennui to so young creature,
and when she referred to "our resi-.
dence," it was in a tone that at once
suggested brown-stone front, plate
glass, and an extensive retinue.
In Mr.. Podd's eyes, her bearing was
simply regal, and he rejoiced in the
distingue atmosphere of her presence,
unmindful of any doubts of its genu.
ineness.
Miss Melinda had gained her knowl
edge of aristocratic department from
theatrical boards and the pages of that
romantic school of literature she de
lighted In devouring in prodigious
quantities, but as Mr.. Podd's ideas had
been generated by the same equivocal
source, he detected none of the flaws
patent to q more acute or less interest
ed person.
Mr.. Podd's lodgings comprised the
most economical part of his exis.
tence, being in an obscure street
in building that wore the look of alb
ject-genteel poverty. Considering the
dispiriting surrounding, it is little mar.
vel that Mr.. Podd frequently sought
the charming companionship of Miss
Melinda Smythe, or entertained. in Sc
cret, visions of a vine-embowered cot
tage, with this divinity as its presiding
deity, for If there be any excuse for a
rash plunge into the tumultuous sea OF
matrimony it is that the unfortunate
victim leaps from the positive infe-
licity of the typical obscure boarding
house into the blissful unknown.
Mr.. Podd's sojourn at these lodgings,
however, was matter of policy, both
on account of the cheapness of bed and
board, and also on the score that, ow-
Ing to the undisgnised partially of the
landlady's daughter for this particular
| boartior tia mother was more leuient