The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-12
THAT CATACOMB STORY.

| Two OF the three journalists were SndTpeH-
ing their pencils busily, while the tall one, she
of the marvellous memory, looked on in pity
| ing liberation as she adjusted a hairpn She
scorned notebooks, scorned pencils, satisfied
in the thought that upon the tablet of her
brain her impressions would be recorded I'M
erringly.
The moist April breeze f1uttered the cur
talns of our pretty salon in the Rue de Chail-
| lot, NO II, and an air of business excitement
was upon us four da1nses, who in trim tailor
gowns and severe sailor hats awaited the
coming of the Harvard man who had consent
] ed to be our pilot through the catacombs.
| The serene peace of our little Partisan men
age had ben rudely disturbed the day pre-
vious by the arrival of an American newspa-
1 per which announced a prize for the best ar
ticle written The Catacombs of Paris
4 Upon inspecting the figure offered by the
4 editor my three journalistic friends, the tall
one, the colleen and the little chaperon, all
decided to compete The tall one laid aside
her fashion article and bundled some trans
/ laton into drawer The little chaperon put
by her weekly letter on the Facts, Fads and
Folies of French Life and placed upon her
desk dozen sheets of vifginal paper select
ing at the same time a fresh, favorte pen
for the fray, while the colleen shelyed two
penny dreadfuls' which she was writing at
the same time and pigeonholed a great work
also to join in the battle for red gold. Even
the Harvard man, who lived at the pension
over the way, deserted his realistic novel,
which he fancied would give him the title of
i The American Maupassant,' and turned
with covetous eyes toward that catacomb
story.
1 alone went merely as an onlooker-yes, a
lotus eater, for l going to write-nothing.
1t was the Chaperon, a charming mixture of
thrift and spendthrift, who said TO me: My =
but you're silly to spend five francs if you
don't make copy of 1t and at least try to get
your money back"
Still 1 went. Every heart knoweth it's own
| bitterness, and, although l am reluctant to
intrude my private grlefs on the public it
was the moral lesson following this visit that
has made me regard the spending of that five
francs as the greatest extravaganza of my
! life.
! The Harvard man arrived serene and snil-
ing. Having counted us, he made a swift,
clever mathematical deduction that two cabs
would be necessary, and started.
| OF what we saw iii the catacombs that day
there shall fall from my poor pen a silence
| SO weighty that it could be cut, but of my
dear, busy scribes-ah, that is sanother mat
| ter
We descended the interminable winding
steps leading to that underground charnel
| house, and the tall girl, she OF the marvellous
tnemery and no notebook, dropped behind
with me in that gloomy winding path and
said in sepulchral whisper (she is always
l,consistenD:
I'm going to refer to these lines of grin
nlng skulls. You might drop hint of this
to the others lest they think of using it. VIII
you 90
But I ventured meekly, not being a
scribe myself, have you reflected that none
of these skulls have teeth? 1t is only those
with teeth that grim.
| She looked at me pityingly. "They shall
grin, she said firmly, clnching her mo-
lars vindictively. "A little thing like that
doesn't bother And she continued air.
lily, L m also going to speak of the littleness,
the absolute pettness, of life its aims and
forth, in the presence OF the great ruler-you
know-death. Veer the others off that if you
hear they're going to it. And-er-look
here don't fancy for little instant that
have not been aware of your ideal platonic
friendship with him." jerking her head in the
direction OF our male escort. He's nice
boy, and L like him, in his place, but if you
make your tender feeling any excuse for giv-~
ing away my thought
You're always SO tactless, DEAR 1 said
viciously, turning away.
At this moment our Harvard man APP
preached, his torch trembling with excite
ment
I've fine idea, he breathed. Il hope the
others aren't On its track These kind of
things are so beasty alike anyhow. Come
here He drew me over to a secluded spot
My thought on-on- But never mind
that now. DO you know, I'm never able to
see you a moment alone You've a corpor-
ais guard about you the whole time
You forget our French lessons and
walks, staninleled furiously, realizing I
was blushing.
like this for instance, without a soul about
though here the others are only a few
PAGES on.
Tell me your thought broke in finding
the conversation too personal.
The thought?' he repeated dazedly ooh
yes. It's on life's absolute litteness its sub
jugation-and-and"-
But just then his torch caught nv hmsy
VEIL and it went up in a gauzy whirl of
smoke, while 1 sputtered and choked with
fear. l fled from the Harvard man minus
the thought and veil and was met by the
little chaperon, her cheeks very red and her