Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1895-02-06


creed by fate to wear it in the common
place atmosphere of q mercantile life,
but thus it was.
To behold 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 baptisnal name was scarcely ade-
quate to the man, for when Mr.. Podd
had cast aside the enthralling shackles
of dependent circumstances and stood
forth in the full freedom of a small
salaried clerk off duty, he might readily
have been mistaken for a railroad mag
nate, or bank official with an evident
inclination toward some country where
extradition law is not.
At 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 establishment to enable
some undecided female to select a spool
of thread, or who rewound yards upon
yards of Hanlburgs and other decora-
tive goods which similar consistent
creatures had examined with thor
oaghnAsa known only to the feminine
mind.
Mr.. Podd cherished intentions, which,
Sr1,f i,,11
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
species of mild insanity that often at
taclls young men of a marriagable age
and an unmarriageable salary, and Mr..
Pedd exhibited many of the symptoms
sn an aggravated form.
lie 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
a 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 a ily-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, or
went out to concerts and theaters, from
which she brought back lyrical souven-
irs to be distributed, with thesaid of
cheap rented piano, to the neighbor-
hood at frequent intervals.
From the department of Miss Melinda
in public, one was led to regret that
life Of fashionable dissipation had
brought ennui to SO young a 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 ret1nue.
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 it's genu-
4Icness.
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.. Podds ideas had
been generated by the same equivocal
source, he detected none OF the flaws
patent to o more acute or less interest
ed person.
MIR. Podd's lodgings comprised the
most economical part of his exis-
tencc, being in an obscure street,
in building that wore the look of alb
.icct-genteel poverty. Considering the
dispiriting surrounding, it is little mar
vel that Mr.. Podd frequently sought
tae charming companionship of Miss