The record-union., 1897-06-20

Wanting III cdnuOr, anu tnuS L 90 not
mind admitting that my ripened judg-
ment pronounces5 the whole system OF
holidays for the masses to be hideous
mistake.
Let me recall the events of Whit
monday. l was up betimes, preparing
my notes on the Assyrian Inscriptions
and arranging them in form to suit
the itinerant lecture that I proposed to
give. 1t had occurred to me as not
improbable that Mary James brother
might bring some of his fellow artisans
with him, and l therefore threw in a
few illusions to labor problems, en-
ployers' liability, and kindred topics.
1t was a little difficult to weave them
into the original subject, and l was still
sitting at my desk when Mary Jane
came pounding up the stairs shouting
out some lines-from a music-hall song
1 should think-about somebody who
was always "lyte" and made her
sweetheart ''wyte." [ was rejecting
whether 1 should seize that opportu-
when she bounced in, came up behind
me, and actually pulled my hat off my
head, saying:
There, now! l knowed 'ow it would
be. You was agoin' to walk with my
brother on Bank 'Oiday with nothink
better than this old dowdy tile stuck
atop of yer cad. Well, it's lucky as ]
tykes a bit of hinterest in yer, or the
chaps I'D be calling after i'm in the
streets to know if twas Cleepatrys
Needle, or somethink of that, e was
tykin' out walkin'. There. That S
more like it," And she stuck into the
ribbon of my sailor hat two large os-
trich feathers that possibly had once
been white.
L begged her to take them out but
she only said, Don yer be ongryteful
now! I'm adoin' it hall fer yer good
Yer'H never get on if yer goes about
with such a figger Why, the gals sly
as yer might as we'll be a funeral or a
tombstone at once, and 1 mt agoin' to
ave my brother laughed at-that ]
y'm!''
Then she leaned over me as if to
fasten the hat on again, and before ]
knew what she was about she had
whipped out a pair of scissors and cut
my hair short right across the front
Now, if there is one thing more than
another that / have always been abso-
lutely firm about, it has been in stand
ing out against wearing a fringe. Not
because 1 thought it would be unbe-
coming, as Evelyn once limited, or be-
cause l was too lazy to like the trouble
OF keeping one in order, which was
Aunt Albinia's Enthusiastically puer-
lie view of the matter, but simply be-
cause L did not choose to be a slavish
follower of a silly custom and, besides
it seemed rather effective way of en-
phasizing my 'aloofness'' from other
girls. Therefore L was extremely an
noyed and irritated with Mary Jane
and half inclined to give up the expedi-
ton altogether, but then l should lose
the opportunity of addressing an intel
ligent artisan audience. So, all things
considered, I allowed her to pin my hat
on again and then take my arm and
drag me off.
must own that my thoughts were
running upon the various labor prob
lens I intended to discuss, and I paid
little attention to Mary James chatter
as we descended the numerous flights
Of stairs. But at length one sentence
startled me.
I've been a-tellin' AIRY as We yn't
much ter look at nor pertikler bright
but e said ed put hup with that. 'E'd
'ad enough o Ugh jinks with 'Arriet
and if yer was quiet and respectable
you'd suit
Quiet and respectablei Just as if
were a maid-servanti Which of course
from one point of view, is eminently
satisfactory, and just what 1 wish Still
l think [ prefer formulating that kline
of social theory myself to having il
done for me. 1 wonder why. The above
reflection occurs to me as l write, ant
1 jot it down; but, at the moment O.
Mary James speaking, all calm consid
GRAFTON was chased away by the re
currence, more strongly than before
| of the horrible suspicion that after al
she must mean. 1 clutched her arm
demanding, You say 1 should suit
What for?"
But she only burst into a rude laugh
and replied: II sha'nt sly it if yer dom
be'yve yerself fit for the position. ST
look out, and come along" and She
dragged me out of the street door
THE pore chap will be off with some
one else if we don't look sharp" she
said as we reached the pavement
There they hare! Hi hi! Halbert
AIRY. Don't yer be off-we're com
in'i" And she went on screaming a.
the top of her voice to a couple OF
young men at the corner of the street
suppose desperation gave me
strength, for did succeed in stopping
her for a moment just before we reach
Il Oh LOT a
once what all this meant. I was quite
willing to give a lecture to her friends
but
There she interrupted me in the
rudest way. ooh, 'ang leckchers!
wouldn't begin with them if 1 was you
Myke yersef a bit pleasant fust, any
'ow, or AIRY won't stand it and
don't know as 1 could find hany hottie,
young man ter keep company with yer
Horrors of horrors! 1t really was sc
then! That was what she had meant
all the time. What a. perfectly awful
predicament to be in. And 70 way OF
escape, for the two young men, il
obedience to Mary James yells, were
advancing upon U.s. What on eartf
was 1 to do? To think of that idiot
of a girl not instinctively realizing the
utter madness of such a notion! Oh
course she ought to have felt thai
my rank was-not that ranks signify
in the least-but still
I tried to wither her by d look OF
stony surprise, but she was busy put
ting up a very dirty white parasol with
great piece of torn lace hanging from
it, Up came the young men--harmless
creatures, no doubt, in their own
spheres, but hideous vulgarians when
you come to think of being supposed
to be on an equality with them. (Shal-