Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-01-12
IAUCTION SALE COMEDY.
HOW THE TRICK OF MAKING ONE
BID AGAINST SELF Is WORKED.


The vase was about eighteen inches
high, and of varying diameter. 1t |
was of some sort of crockery or china
ware, and it was as ornate as a Lone
somehurst cottage. On one side was
Vatican young woman, clad in a
truly rural pink satin puffy skirt,
mostly all pleats, and an apple-green
bodice, also satin, and O shepherd
ess" hat that must have cost at least
$24 so, and white silk stockings that
ended in pink satin slippers (high
hecled), apparently No. -, children's
size. The young woman was engaged
in holding on to the kind of shepherd.
ess' crook that shepherdesses used al
ways to carry in the old days-gilded,
and with varihued liberty silk rib.
bons tied all over it. She was also
industriously engaged in gazing into
the branches of sapphire blue cherry
tree, wherein a very red and very
spankable Cupid was doing the usual
act with bow and arrow. On the
other side young man, with more OF
less Of the same makeup, without the
skirt, was climbing a gilt ladder into
q gilt balcony shaded by Tyrian pur'
pie vines.
The auctioneer held it up.
"What am 1 offered for this real
thipg?" he inquired, insinuatingly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the age oI
this vawse is beyond my humble com
putation. Moreover, [ do not like tc
go beyond facts that I know. L dc
know that this vawso adorned the
home of the Russian Minister-Cacky
--Cackyowsky- something like that
to this country seventy-two years
ago. 1t passed from his unwilling
keeping, when he was recalled, to the
household establishment of the Gar.
The many vicissitudes through which
this vawse has passed in finally reach
ing my humble but reYerent hands,
ladies and gentleu en-. wore too pa.
tbetio to relata Il sulices to say
that it is gem f to hsye adorned
Versailles indeed. who shall say
that it neyer did adorn Verse; - & > ! :
Ladies and gentlemer. nse you u
make me an Offering for this vawse,
keeping in mind"
''Two dollars" said coarse, bruta
man at the for end of the room.
The auctioneer looked grieved.
"Surely," said he, ''you jest
Surely, you must be unaware of the
merits Of the cherished school OF cera
mic art to which this"
''Two m hail." put in another low
churl, with business-like eye, ul
near the auctioneer's stand.
"I perceive" said the anctioneer,
sadly, "that q spirit of merriment
pervades the room this morning. 1t
is sorry enough reflection that q
gem, q prize, of this character, ladies
and gentlemen, that generation ago
would have been grabbed at by
"Well, call it three" said the first
man to make bid.
"My friends" said the auctioneer,
shaking his head mournfully, "nre
you aware that it is among the posi-
bilities-indeed, among the probabili-
ties-that this vawse for which you
now offer me such paltry sums may at
one time have embellished the bou-
doirs of queens?-that the Inflated
Marie Antoinette herself"
"Three-ffty," said another man
with o low forehead but bright, alert
eye.
It was at this point that the deter
mined-looking elderly woman, with
the poppy-covered bonnet and the fat,
old-fashioned purse, walked in, The
love OF tradition shone in her eyes,
and she flashed look of contempt at
the bidders.
Give dollars" said she, pushing
through the crowd close to the auc-
tioneer's stand.
"Ah, madame, said the aucticneer,
"yo;. nave arrived y season. 1t is
readily to be seen that you k2ow q
sood thing when you-that you have
cultivated eye, that is to say, fol
such perfect products Of sadly de
Perforated art as this. Yet fear you
TOO, strike too low note. Five an
offered-who, then. is to make i
ten? who makes it ten?-ah, ten an
offered-"
Nobody in the room had spoken
The determined-looking elderly wom
an looked around defantly and ad
justed her spectacles defantly.
''-ten L am offered-who makes
it fifteen?-"
Fifteen dollars" said the deter
mined-looking woman, and all of the
rest of the rooms assemblago looked
on with very great silence.
"Fifteen am offered-it is dreary
enough to reflect upon it-but fifteen
/ am Observation-Disclosures
who is to display his acumen and make
me--ah. twenty"
Nobody in the room had spoken.
"Twenty-tive dollars" said the de-
termined-looking woman, and she
didn't notice the grins of the canaille
about her.
"And sold to this lady with the cul
tivated eye for twenty-five dollars,
said the auctioneer, snappingly.
ooh, yes, said the auctioneer in ar
easy whisper to a friend, "when you
can get 'em to bid against themselves
4