Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-02-14

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| creed by fate to wear it in the common
place atmosphere of a mercantile life,
| but thus it was
| To behold Mr.. Podd on a 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 name was scarcely AIDE
| 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 4 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
| dry goods establishment 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
creatures had examined with thor
| oughness known only to the feminine
| mind.
Mr.. Podd cherished intentions, which,
if rightly matured, as they certainly
would be in the coursc 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 bygOEe days
This maiden dwelt with her mother,
whose small income was obtained by
working early and late at dressmak-
ing.
Miss Melinda led 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 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 tone that at once
suggested a 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 flaw:
patent to a 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 q alb
iect-genteel poverty. Considering the
dispiriting surrounding, it is little mar
vel that Mr.. Podd frequently sought
the charming companionship of Mis-:
Melinda Smythe. or entertained. in Sc
. ! cret visions of vine-eTn powered cot
. tage. with this divinity IS its presiding
deity. for II there be any excuse for
rash plunge into the tumultuous sea O
, 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 a matter of policy, boil
on account OF the cheapness of bed ant
| board. and also on the score that, ow
ing to the undisguised partially of tn
landlady's daughter for this particula
boar6sR the mother was more lenien