The record-union., 1896-07-19
AN EPISODE"
(Written for the Record Union" by
ReSelena)

Beselena)
When the new telegraph operator
made her appearance upon the scene
quite fiutter of excitement agitated
the feminine portion of the population.
She was young and pretty, and what
was more, every man in the house,
from the staid head clerk with a wife
and seven children to the African por
ter, were her sworn admirers. / don't
know whether the men of our house
are especially susceptible to feminine
charms, or whether there is particu-
lar amount of feminine loveliness sur
rounding them, but this much / do
know. every time an attractive petit
coat enters our door the men go mad
over her on the spot.
1t was the same way with Bobby
Gaylark and the fascinating typewrit-
err One would have thought that the
outcome of that spell of madness would
have taught our men a lesson, but it
didn't. We thought it did, each man
was SO penitent and sorry, and so
thoroughly ashamed of himself and
not only that, but they were devoted to
their wives for the next two or three
months, which was, indeed quite beau
tiful to behold: but human nature is
weak, and the moment the bewildering
telegraph girl, with her mass of golden
hair and her child-like eyes came upon
the scene, the men succumbed, and the
green-eyed monster once more ran riot
over our peaceful abode.
The name of this siren was Miss Dol
lie Dasher The women watched her
closely, and soon made the discovery
that Miss Dasher displayed a weak
ness for gowns of blue, thereupon
every woman in the house who pos
sessed a gown of that particular shade
presented it to the chambermaids 1t
was quite windfall for the girls Not
one of the six, SO the housekeeper told
me, had to buy a summer outfit
The hardest hit of all the boarders
was Jack Softleigh. Jack has Just
heaps of money. His enemies are
mean enough to say that he has more
money than brains, but Jack doesn't
have to use his brains, so IT doesn't
matter even if he hasn't any Poor
Jack got himself into dreadful trouble
the other day all on account of the tel
egraph operators blue gown, but to tell
the story properly I must go back sew
eral months before the arrival of the
beautiful Miss Dasher
Among the bOarders was a certain
Mrs Ketchum and her maiden daugh-
ter, young person of uncertain age
There was Mr.. Ketchum once but
where this worthy gentlemen is now no
one knows, and Mrs. K. discreetly keeps
silent upon the subject. After sizing
up the eligible young men in the house.
naturally Mrs. KS eyes rested with
particular favor upon Jack Softleigh as
being the most desirable on-in-law No
one knew just how Mamma Ketchum
managed it; it was even whispered
that the old lady proposed to Jack her
self, and that the poor fellow was so
frightened that he didn't dare refuse.
However that may be, the real fact re-
mains that upon the fourth finger of
Miss Ketchum's left hand there glitters
diamond ring that turned every other
woman in the house bilious with jeal-
ousy. They had been engaged two
months, but were not to be married un-
til the 100000 house in the most fash
lonable quarter of the city was com
pleted.
This was the state Of affairs when
Miss Dollie Dasher came upon the scene
ard caused all the trouble One even
Ing after twilight had fallen there
PASSED down the hall a figure clad in a
pale blue gown. Suddenly from out of a
dark corner there sprung a man, who
seized the figure in his arms and pressed
her tightly to his manly breast and i'm
printed kiss upon her unresisting lips.
AT that moment the electric lights
blazed forth, and to Jacks consterna-
ton, for it was he, he found he had
been embracing the wrong woman, it
wasn't Miss Ketchum at all, but the tel
egraph girl. To complicate matters
Miss Ketchum saw the whole proceed
ing. She wouldn't accept Jacks apol-
ogy, nor listen to an explanation when
he endeavored to convince her that it
was case of mistaken Identity She
went into violent Mysteries and was
taken screaming from the scene. She
positively refused to leave her room for
over a week and rejected all of poor
Jacks overtures of peace. 1 really be-
licve she would have given Jack up then
and there in spite of the 100000 house
and his unlimited millions if Mamma
Ketchum hadn't gotten into the breach
just here. It's all very we'll for q young
girl to exhibit a certain amount of pride,
but there is a limit even to this most
cOmmendable article. Mrs. K. didn't
propose to see that fortune wasted on
any base, designing telegraph girl, so
just as her daughter was on the verge
of nervous prostration and Jack was
seriously contemplating a trip into the
wilds of Africa and there allow himself
to be unresistingly devoured by the first
rnaneating tiger that came along-I
know this is all straight, l got it directly
from the party to whom Jack told it
Mamma Ketchum came forward and
brought them together. Just what
means she employed no one knows, it
must have been some very risky STRAIT
egy, for both the young people were
heard to solemnly declare that they
never wanted to see or even hear of
each other again; but it is authenti-
cally reported that when they did meet
they promptly proceeded to fall
into each others arms in true story
| book style. They are to be married next
month and are going to China in a sail
| ing vessel on wedding tour leaving
the completion of the house to Mrs.
Ketchum, who considers herself quite
competent to attend to the task. From
the able way in which she managed her
daughters affair all the other board
ers think she is quite equal to it.
What became of the telegraph girl ?
Well, she eloped with the bell boy
shortly after the reconciliation and has
not been heard from since, and her