The record-union., 1897-08-01
BESELENk'S PRATTLE.

! I have always maintained that a no
| tel is miniature world of its own,
and that no other place offers such va
ried inducements for the study of hu-
man nature. 1t is in the dining room
! that one has the best opportunity of
observing the manners and customs Of
| the festive summer tourist.
The Fastener is as distinctive
| product from the Westerner as can we'll
| be imagined. The Fastener on his
maiden trip to the West is all athirst
| for information, which he laboriously
| gathers piece meal, from references
and guide books. He is an exclusive
SORT of an Individual, not given to the
making of friends. He regards the
bluff, good hearted Westerner who,
taking pity upon him, volunteers. for
his information, a miscellaneous medley
of facts, fancies and events, told with
individual Western. grace with a MKT
ure of gratitude and resentment. On
| his second trip to the coast he takes
down his barbed Wire fence of reserve
and finds that he enjoys himself
great deal better. He learns, too, how
to spend his money with a more lavish
hand He no longer looks twice at the
succulent nickel and puts it back into
his pocket, with an Idly concealed sigh,
but learns to spend it with a lavish
hand
The other night [ was somewhat late
for dinner, and when 1 entered the din
ing room found that all the tables were
occupied; it was sometime before l
could get my order, and while waiting
for it employed the interval in study
ing my neighbOrs. Over near the door
sat a college student and college grad
uate. the latter Enthusiastically one of
this years crop of alma matters. The
student parted his shaggy blonde locks
directly in the center and cOmbed them
sleelIy down over both ears. The col
| lege graduate had arrived at the dignity
of a moustache-a faint apology to be
sure-nevertheless, a moustache. He
wore glasses and parted his locks on
the side, as being more manly and be
fitting his newly acquired Importance.
One could tell at a glance that he was
a college graduate, not only from the
fact that he seemed to radiate knowl-
edge from everywhere, but because he
was in that state bordering on spon-
first case of the kind that l have seen.
Such cases are only dangerous the first
six months: during that period the re-
Gently graduated one sets out on the
self imposed mission of imparting his
newly-acquired knowledge to the world,
but he soon finds that the giddy old
world is ungrateful enough TO neither
want nor care for his sacrifice. You
I,i-
| earnestness now, because you and l. my
| friends, have all been there at the swell
headed period of our Juvenile days, but
actual contact with the world speedily
knocks all such Stiffness out of our
heads, and we begin to see that, after
all, college days are but the kindergar-
ten of life, and that the world is
school from which we never graduate.
My two college boys ate their dinner
with relish, tried to look experienced
as they drank their wine, and criticised
| the women present with a blase air.
| At the table in the center of the room
! sat the oracle of the village and his
/ family A tall raW-boned woman was
the wife and a plump, well-fed sancti-
monious looking maid the daughter. /
| knew instinctively that he was the
oracle of ''Wayback," from a certain
| important air, somewhat sub
dued. he wore, and which seemed to be
| part and parcel of his Individuality.
| The oracle Of ''Wayback" is an auto
crat in the small town where he was
| born and brought up.
| He had the distinction of being the
son of the only rich man in town, and
furthermore. had the advantage of be-
| ing the only boy who had ever been
sent away to school, consequently when
/ he returned and married the village
| belle, he was looked up TO by the sim
/ ple village folk as no less than a par
agon.
| His wishes We're deferred to on all
| occasions He held every office in the
province of the town to give. When
| the cheap rates came and the Christian
Endeavorers were focking toward the
West he decided that he and moth
err and the family would go along too.
| 1t was the first time in the history of
! Wayback that any of its inhabitants
! had left fer the far-off land of the
| Golden West and the village paper
chrcnicled the fact for days and weeks
/ before hand When the eventful day
at last arrived the whole town, as
/ though with one accord took a holiday
/ and assembled at the station TO see
the intrepid travellers safely off. 1t
was indeed a gala day for the auto
crat he fairly strutted with import
ance, and tried to hide how pleased he
was at this new proof of his fellow
| townsmen's devotion by a severely
! frowning exterior. When the train left
the station with the popular man on
board, he was given one mighty cheer
as parting gift.
| But alas for the autocrat, his trf-
umph was destined to be short-lived.
As the train rushed farther and farther
| from Wayback the fact began to dawn
upon his inner consciousness that there
were other places and other popular
men; he was a long time in grasping