The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-03-09
TALKED WITH MIOGETS.
Mildred Irving Had Pleasant Chat
With the Little People.
Held One Of the DImInutlve Men In Her Lar.
How II All Came About.
/ held a man in my lap!

1
thins' and even now / feel like Offering
an excuse for my conduct.
i went 70 have a little chat with the
Rossow Midgets: and 1 was nearly
scared OIL when / was confronted by
that gigantic seven-feet-four cousin oI
theirs who accompanies them as az
told me, Just 10 keep people from step
ping on them. as they go through the
streets j realized that ne was quite a
TOAD IN the puddle when 1 took him ia
! mentally and saw that my eyes were
only triiie above his elbows, and |
| not so much of - little thing" at that:
Dut when he learned my erTand he was
quite arable and by no means as ter
rible as he looked.
i was introduced 10 the tiny little
men most graciously: and most gra-
! clous greeting they gave me, extending
their diminutive little HANDS quite cor
! daily.
! L never would have believed that
! would bend the knee 10 any man: but
| i had To in this case, or else ignore the
hand OF hospitality.
And | was astonlshed indeed. for, in
| spite of seeing them on the stage.
! did not dream that they were really
such very wee mites OF things.
And how do you Ike vaudeville" /
asked, to which both replied, with one
| accord "Splendldly."
They have not yet lost their delight
ful Teutonic brogue, and speak quite
broken English. which at times ] did
not really understand; and their voices
had all the sweetness and other char
acteristics of a child three years old.
Indeed, ! have not yet quite gotten
over the feeling that they are but
children, except when | recall their i'm
portant manner and the decidedly
mannish way i'm which they strut about
xaHfe 4. lT.fea
the intelligent and mature way in which
they discuss matters that no child, how
ever precocious, could tackle.
Oh said Charlie, the smaller one,
with comically pompous air. Frank
is not so warm. He's nearly three inch
es taller than | am. I'm only 24ls inches
and he's 27A."
But I'm more of a man than he is"
broke in Frank. FOR / weigh 30 pounds
and he's only a baby-he only weighs
20 pounds.
And have you any brothers or sis
ters?" l inquired.
why of course. fourteen OF Them"
said Charlie. Were next TO the young
est: and every one of them is as big as
you and some of them bigger"
Well, you ought to hear them talk
once. and hear them roll their RS, If
you love children, especially babies. you
couldn't help falling in love with them
at once. They are just too cute and
cunning for anything. They sat in their
little chairs, the seat of which are only
six inches from the floor, and OCCASION
ally arose and strutted across the floor
as If TO give emphasis to their conver-
sation, while their tiny little blue eyes
cleaned with earnestness and humor
combined.
/ was so charmed with them. so as
tonished 10 find them so intelligent and
bright and anything but "monstrosi-
ties in any sense of the word. that /
felt that I could just grab them up in
my arms and hug them.
And then. IN time To save me from |
such a horrible ndscretion, l remem- |
bered that they are men.
The mammoth cousin told me that they |
conduct their own business, write their /
letters and care for themselves in ev-
cry respect precisely as any full-grown |
business men do.
And who takes care Of their !
,lothes?" ! inquired
why, we do ii ourselves" replied |
Charlie. What do you suppose? If our
clothes get ripped or torn, we mend
hem ourselves; and we sew on our
,wn buttons. I'll bet your husband
amt do that"
| don't know what made him think I
lad husband; and l didn't think il
,est to be inqulsitve enough To ask.
or found them both TO be very frank
n their conversation.
See here, Charlie" interrupted
Frank, "I'll tell the young lady all she
wants to know" and he gave me
unny little wink. You see he's only
am %, and of course he is more sus-
eptible to 'woman's winning ways,
han L am, so | have to look out for
lim."
"Oh. just hear him" broke in Charlie
The trouble with him is that he wants
very pretty young lady to confine all
Ter attention To him."
Now wasn't that a delicate compli-
nent? l wanted to lift him up and hug
im-dio you ever see a woman who
couldn't under the circumstances ?-and !
was just on the point of doing it, but
remembered.
Charlie is man!
And then they both laughed, and such
merry little laugh just as hearty as
hat of any man and yet such childish
oices, so fresh and so sweet.
And | suppose lots of ladies call on
on and that you may really be called
aides pets, | said.
"Oh. yes, were darlings. we are" re-
ponded Charlie. polSing his brother in
'e ribs "but we cant see everybody
'ho calls, for if we did we'd get All
rcd out answering the same questions
bout a million times a day. We have
send word TO most of them that if
hey want to see us. they will have to
D TO keith's any afternoon or evening.
on see. we're not looking for any rich
merican heiresses on whom TO bestoW
n old German title, and really we're
Dt i'm the market"
And as he spoke. the little rascal gave
little spring and jumped right up into
" lap and looked up into my face
ith the cutest expression on his face. ,
nj ii was so irresistible that ! just put
y arms around him and give him a
luecze.
Then IL dawned on me what I had
me. Horrors a man i'm my lap. and
hugging him!
That was too much,
| don't know just how / put him
,wn. but I do know that about as ! y
ilckly as ever / did such a thing. I u
Il on my feet. ] suppose | said good y
'e i'm some fashion. and | hurried out i
the ROOM while two jolly little mems i
ices ian the most hilarious laughter .
ng i'm my ears all the way back TO the .
ice. e'
DO I interview any more men? y