The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-08-08
ROUND A HAT.

This particular play was great and
popular success. and this particular
night the theater was crowded. Every
seat in every part of the house was oc-
cupied-every seat, that is, but one.
and that one in the pit. This was all
the more remarkable as this seat looked
good seat-well mp forward, nearly in
the center. quite as advantageous. as
pit people are wont to hypocrize, as ten
and sixpence wasted on stall And
yet the seat was, all the same, undenia-
bly, vacant.
It was not being ''kept" either. The
young man on tho other side Of 1t al
ready had his young lady with him. l,
on this side, did not have young lady
at all, and did not expect one, either.
That seat was neither reserved nor tax
en-. There was a mystery about it-a
mystery was acquainted with, mys-
terry you will get to know, too, If you
have the courage to go on.
You may be curious why did not
move up into this excellently good seat
There is another mystery in the matter,
and, just as in the case where two mega
tives, we are enormously assured, con-
stitute a positive affirmative, SO these
two mysteries, being explained, annul
one another. AS matter Of fact, had
moved into that seat on entering and
then had hastily moved back again,
while / had the chance, for Immediate
ly in front was q stylish young lady
what is generally catalogued smart
girl-young, good looking, very nice,
in the height Of fashion, and-need ]
say it-with a hat.
There you have it-not the hat, which
is probably in the same possession un-
less, of course, the fashions have again
changed, as is to be expected, consider
ing the incident took place nearly 6
week ago-not the hat, but the elucida
ton; for the luckless individual who
paid to come in and took up his station
sitting down, behind that hat would
have absolutely no return for his money
| but a gratuitous and highly exasperat
ing view of ribbons and dead birds thai
| Regent street glorifies into "crea
ton.
We knew, you know. We had triei
| it, the first and the quickest and the1
the other men, who, wandering in lat'
and thanking their lucky stars for theil
great, good fortune, bounced into tina
seat with wide smile on their faces
remained perplexed and fidgety for sew
eral minutes, frowned and coughed ant
shuffled their feet where the foo
sounded loudest and then finally depart
ed somewhere into the back with inar
ticulate mutterings and much painful,
suppressed emotion.
An old gentleman at the back of m
who evidently made habit of misan
thropy and allowed none of his fellow
creatures sadness to pass withou
proper merriment, was spending
most enjoyable evening in consequence
The world to him was good deal NOR
than O stage, and he would certainl
have been content to wait all night fo
the rising of the curtain, provided tn
fun in front went on SO uninterrupted
ly. When somebody from the rear mad
move for this seat, his face beanie
with the gratitude of thanksgiving. A
the somebody sat down there he SCENE
to let off a profound chuckle. When th
somebody faced the hat and fidgeteG
his sides shook and his double chi
trembled / did not approve of thi
gloating, and as often as possible with
out creating conversational friction
leaned back suddenly and let one of m
| - 4,n 20 ~ no
him pause and breathing time, but b
used it only to get ready to enjoy th
next victim.
just as the lights went down and t1
curtain went up a young man, tt
youngest of them all up to now, pushe
his way In from the side and tumble
into that open trap, piously took off h
silk ''tile" and put it under the sea
punched himself up into that prepol
derant attitude that is necessary fl
, proper receptiveness, peered eagerl
forward and saw beautifully-all tt
blackness Of the lady's hat. Then el
sued the usual pantomimic demonstr
, ton of foiled expectation-coughs al
discomforting, because very SINGER
| STOWlS. luC OIu Eelltielldu ut tiIo Ios
seemed to be in danger of bursting
E blood vessel, and the breaths Of his el
, joyment came into the nape of my net
4 warm and frequent and vigorous.
, What was most remarkable, howeve
was that this young man did not abal
don the position, like his predecessor
but held on and stuck there in forlol
hope, rousing himself at intervals
, pivot round on his vertebral colun
! and describe most alarming contortiol
, in rash attempts to get his head, al
. more particularly his eyes, into son
nook or crevice where the stage was n
3 completely effaced, then sinking dow
In failure and despair and collapsil
into unwilling resignation, temper'
y by ebullitions of muffled groans, al
. the old gentleman behind was quive
4 ing with commissions of joy, so that
q fell back on him again and did hi
q more personal injury without, ho'
/ ever, much damping his ecstatic IA
q ture.
The girl on the right of US he