The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-28
BILLINGS CURE FOR JEALOUSY.
kilograms Tath Marked the Course
of Married Mans Night Out.
rom the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
1t was at the last regular session of the
Sunrise Club. after several members had
told what they regarded as the most fool
ish thing they had done, that the treas
urer of theater related this story:
Five years ago." he said, Il was act
ing as box office man in a Broadway the
ater and spending my spare time in cul-
tiVating a sense of my own Importance. 1
was not content with the very sausfac-
tory way in which l ran my own af-
fairs. / felt that such an insight into hu-
man natures as 1 possessed should reflect
some benefits on my friends, and I was
very ready to offer my advice and my
services wherever 1 thought they would
do the most good. The worst victim of
this spirit Of meddling, aside from myself,
was William Ridgely, whom 1 had known
as boy, and who was acting as my
understudy and learning the ropes. Ridgely
had been married for two years, and
while Mrs. Ridgely was a nice, attractive
little woman, she was VIGOROUSLY jealous
of Billy, and he being an easy-going,
good-natured chap, instead of asserting
himself yielded to her whims In a way
that made me very angry. Billy was free
to leave the box Office every night at II
o clock and Mrs. Billy knew exactly how
long it should take him to get home. If
he was fifteen minutes late there was
scene. The promptness with which Ridge
ly skipped every night at II irritated me.
was a bachelor and il seemed to me 10
be undignified for man to be tied down
to a woman's whims in that fashion.
3" Assert yourself, Billy l would say.
and Mrs. Ridgely will soon get over her
jealousy She never has had any cause
to be jealous.
That's all right Ridgely would say,
but my wife is not like other women,
old man.
An women are alike was my usual
reply to this statement.
'As a friend of both, felt that it was
my duty to cure Mrs. Ridgely of her
unreasonable jealousy. Think of that for
conceit! reasoned it all out to my own
satisfaction. Ridgely couldn't be depend
ed on to take the first step, but If could
lead him into it 1 suspected that he would
work out his own salvation. 1t wasn't
that Ridgely ever complained you know,
but that I determined to set their little
world right according to my standards.
1T was warm weather, and we were
running a light opera as tler-in. On
Saturday night, after very uneomfort-
able day, I concluded that the time was
right for beginning my reform of the
Ridgely family. Just as Billy was put
ting on his hat at II to go home L said
to him:
Wait a second and I'll go with you
and get cool glass of beer
" Hurry up, them he said for 1 have
only five minutes to spare for it.
"Ridgely was fond of beer and good
company, and 1 led him into a cafe. where
knew that he would find both. In fact.
had taken the liberty of notifying five
or six of his old friends who had not seen
him since he was married to be there.
AS we entered they all came forward to
greet him and ask him what he would
have. 1t was one of his peculiarities that
no n 10 under Obliera tiOne
any one. When we had had one round OF
beer Ridgely wanted to order his round
and then leave. One of his friends got
ahead of him and he had TO wait for his
change on the third round. Six men sue
ceeded in buying rounds before Ridgely
got his chance, and by that time every
man present had something to tell him
which he wanted to hear. After we had
finished Ridgely's beer he said, in a half
hearted way
Well / must be going.
." Better stay just little longer said
I, and have a lobster with us. A few
minutes more won't make any difference,
and you can tell Mrs. Ridgely that you
have been with me-.
"Ridgely yielded, and l smiled to my
self in gee because of the success Of
my plan. The lobster was followed by
more beer and more long stories, and when
the party broke up 1t was l.
he saw the clock. Where has the time
gone? What am 1 going to dor
" I will fix itf 70 you said l. You have
done nothing wrong, but we will Just
telegraph Mrs. Ridgely that you have
gone to spend the night with me because
am sick
E" is that a good thing to do? asked
Ridgely.
" The very best Just trust me- said I.
eve went to the nearest telegraph office
and after many attempts put together this
dspath:
{" Mrs. Ridgely: Billings is ill with ty-
phoid fever, and have taken him home.
win sit up with him tonight Don't
worry. Billy
" THAT is neat said Ridgely. admiring-
Iy, and as this Is an exceptional chance
let's drop in at Blanks and get a night
cap
I'VE had several nightcaps and when we
came out Ridgey sad:
" Now, must send that telegram to my
wife
Il had a vague impression that we had
sent it, but / was not sure. We discussed
il calmly and concluded that we had not
sent a dispatch. we found an Office open
and between US we wrote:
Mrs William Rldgely:
Billings suffering from heart failure.
Must stay with him tonight Billy.
" Neat isn't it?' said Billy
" Yes. said /. 'Lets have n nightcap
on g. aud we did. We had reached "a
stage when we wanted to discuss high art,
and we marked our conclusions with a
nightcap each time ~ o'clock we left
the saloon aud started down Broadway for
my rooms. an open telegraph office
caught our eyes.
" Here n - good place TO send my dls-
PATCH. said Buiy
4" You are right said /, and Ia we went
and sent this message.