El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-26
For the Better Half
Written for the HERALD.
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flame, pansy flag, lily, and other bril-
liant dances were the talk of the world
and Lon ion and Paris were conquered.
In Paris she won more than stage sue
cess for such worthless as Sardou and
Dumas wined and dined 1.-THE Little
Fuller. "Japan's mikado, China's emper-
or and Ii Hung Chang, the khedive Of
Egypt, and any number of crowned
heads have delighted in her whirling
jewel-bright skirts and their graceful,
j marvellous swirlings. Her dance sim
of long skirts in brilliant lights. The
skirts are many yards wide, of stuffs
fine and soft and graceful. These are
whirled about in great wings into all
sorts of graceful clouds OF light and
shadow, sometimes into definite
designs as flowers and the flag. The
lights are cleverly devised by herself
and brother and are thrown on her as
she dances some-coming from under
door, AS she whirls and glides about
in the light her skirts glow as rubies.
sapphires, and emeralds and in "The
Flame Dance she seems the very
spirit of fire. It is q pity to tell to the
end of the tale, but the glare of the
lights has so affected her eyes that no
less than total blindness seems inevita-
BILE and the she who has devised and
wrought one of the most graceful de-
step aside from the brightness of her
success to a dark world of shadows.
The time was apt and the Office Cat
got in some fine work swapping big
headlines about to accomplish long
cherished hope of revenge. For, be 1t
known, the cat of today has a grievance
against the modern wOman's club,
which he finds inimical to the best COM
fort of all the cat tribe. Why, ten
years ago, when woman's clubs, except
Susan B. Anthony's, were quite I'M
known, what was the object OF every
spinster's regard? The cat. Today
spinsters CAD about to culture clubs.
mothers meetings, Egyptian architec-
tural research associations, and let the
cook give Tom his meat and his catnip
is forgotten. Many home-cat in these
days is driven to envy the adventurous
life of an alley Gator his comfort
without affection is bitter and he leaves
the warm hearth to join the lean and
shabby Migrants and becomes an an
archist with violent notions of his
rights. Well, our Office Cat, having
often meditated on this subject, with
melancholy we hesitated to intrude
upon, waxed very wroth against this
foe to cat happiness. Being a clever
cat he bided his time-which came
yesterday-and he turned the HERALD
columns topsy-turvy to accom-
plish the revenge which
Is sweet. In this wise wreaked he-he
took the heading, the big ''scare-head"
that belonged to the account of an eX-
plosion in chewing gum factory, real
" very painful affair, and put it
above the account of the Texas Fedora
ton of Woman's Clubs, really very
dignified affair. The news of the pro-
nounced as "a Terrible Explosion"
with sense of humor too broad, and
in this case quite unpardonable, he
called the federation "Chewing Gum
Factory" and emphasized his scorn of
club femininity by saying that 1t "blew
up with terrible force" "the entire
block WAS demolished, and so on. It
was the chance of that cats life. He
was actuated by noble. if mistaken,
idea of reform and desire to serve his
kind. The HERALD discovered the ex-
change of heads only when attention
was called to the Office Cat who was
chuckline in the corner, stroking his
whiskers. Everyone knew some mis-
chief was up then. There was rush
for q paper-the first edition was all
out-the cats joke had gone forth to
many homes. The heading we're re-
arranged properly for the later papers.
The HERALD Graves pardon of the
ladies assembled at Galveston, but al
so will they please forgive the cat?
Spinsters remember, from time i'm
memorial you have been the gracious
protectors and patrons Of all cats and
do not too quickly withdraw your
gentle kindness, that they know no
better than always to expect. And so
q end the tale of the Office Cat and
his Sweet Revenge.