The times., 1897-06-20

tnk SIOUStfB. ne IctRIeQ MS IOHUlAtu ~ pc
writer and dictated replies TO the first
corners. Just then, he received q copy of
the Ciceroviile Meatorx with this notice
| marked, 'Mr- Riddle always responds to
marii-aotcs with Two Lerfuiued compliment
taries." He suspects George Buckler.
Ills stsp.c.ons are better accounted for
in the / gnt of "a later HAPPENING. 1t hap
pened that a date OF tie Flair company
and Of the Bukler Stock Company tR. 1. P.i
conflicted in one town. That s, on the
same night one was, TO play n the OIeia
House tso called because operas are never
given thc,e) and tie other called the Aoad
OF Music $50 called because the cornet
band gives its May festival Of one concert
there every January. This was evidently
not merely center of culture. 1t must
have been town. Miss Hair announcel
her Lhl as East Lynne, she to Liay Lady
Isabel, Buckler announced East Lynne "
His role was unannoeBced. Presumably
not Lady Isabel. The Elair company waited
for the people to Come aud see them.
Buckler shouldered his pencil, and went
to the people with the glad abundance Of
free tickets He had had that knife up h
sleeve for some time. When Bert speaks
Of it now, it s cnly to mention: "Well.
house than the other rersoG :" The term
"person" in this case has a particularly
cutting and sarcastic ring Indeed, IL
is believed that Pert would have liked 20
ring the person himself The opinion is
current, hut ot to he vouchedf for, that there
ere others.
In Gargery, a metropolis of West Ten
nessee. he was entertained at the Moon
g.
he attended a watermelon contest in Su-
etsburg. same State, he was made a hero
of and a life member of the Citizens Vol
unteer Fire Department for his bravery in
extingushing lamp I'D the city hotel
From there he went to Mulberry, Miss, but
a cyclone hail been there first, an he wired
back that it would be best to play Suets-
burg a second night by special request
A few days more took him into New Or
leans, and there was milk and honey, or
something else more stimulating, for which
this is the equivalent figure of speech, for
weeks. He had the pleasure of seeing his
star become a fayorite in the Crescent City
The receipts rose nightly. His spirits rose
with them Then the temperature began
to rise, and finally the river became ami
mated with the same elevating tendency.
1t rose even higher than the receipts So
Bert cast his weather eye up river. He
got out his Postal Guide and started on his
voyage of discovery His voyage up stream
was not all that the Manchester makes the
journey to Marshall Hall. The higher he
got the higher the nver got. There was
no danger of running aground There was
also little apparent danger of running
ashore. But one day the mariner in charge
OF the expedition touched at what proved
10 be Manteao ASK Bart lie left the next
DAY. And the next day the town fell in
the river.
On his way TO Nashville he took in Val
paraiso. Some one heard that he was an
advance agent They didn't stop TO con-
slider. A mass meeting of men who voted
for Mckinley met and then adjourned ia u
body to wait ON Mr.. Riddle. He made one
of his ''customariiy happy speeches and
explained the sort of prosperity he was in
advance OF by presenting the mayor Of the
town and the oonstables family with free
seats That made him solid there and they
asked him to remain aud run for aIderma II
from the second ward, 1t was discovered
in the course of the discussion that that
particular ward was under water at that
time. They then offered him the fifth,
but he deciinedsand he only favor he asked
WAS to have Miss Blair's picturein the court
house and the postoffiee. and her appear
ancc announced in the ppipits on Sunday.
Bert thought he had struck it rich when
someone said something which he under
stood The result was that two days later
he te!egraphed hack TO the company for
active cash and reported the next two
towns under water, and jumped into st
Louis.
That was the beginning of the end. At
that point the thermometer got even higher
than the river, and Bert checked hin self
home ON thioCgh ticket He thinks the
South nice place to read about N guide
books. Washington is his ideal summer
place. He likes to stay here, and talk
about his adventures, of which the fore
going is. as Mark Twain would say: Not
a finished work; mere study"