Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-10
PRIDE OF NOBLE BLOOD

Say" said the bg-jowled man on the
rear platform of the Georgetown car to
the heavy-jawed man on his right die
ever read a book nalled Hapless Ermyn-
trude; or. How She Won and Wed Him7' I"
Nav" replied the other. "whatehoo
handing usYi What dye think am?''
We'll. read that book all last Sunday.
went on the big jowled man. And 1t was
great. Y ought to get It. It's what
they call the limmlck over In Bioodfeids'
Greatest stuff ] ever sioshed into in my
life. Just saw It kicking around-i think
my wife picked 1t up somewhere or another
and when Id finished reading the Sunday
papers 1 got hold of it. and, say. l could
hardly drop II to eat my dinner. say, II
was winner with me. Y ought to get It. ,
On your way replied the heavy-Jaweo
man. What dye s'pose ! want t read
book with name like that forF'
Because, answered the big-jowled man,
It'll give you line on where ordinary
onnery. cheap hoi-poioi, bourgeoise-haye
! got that right2-canaile, plebeian people
like you and me stand in this game You IL
never know what big figure blood-nhes
out of the breeding book cut in the United
states until you read this book. zen you
why The main squeeze in 'Hapless Ermyn-
trude-l mean the heroine-s Ermyntruue
herself. Ermyntrudes paw goes broke on
Wall street trying to corner the hot-air
market. and then he ups and croaks.
Ermyntrude's nav has died when Ermyn-
trude was bahe-not baby. yunderstahd.
but babe-there are no babies In modern
novels or plays-and, Of course. Ermyn-
trude has to hunt for work all of her folks
having died Off before the book was start
ed. Well. she can't do anything except
play Monastery Bells on the piano ana
fool around with Honiton lace work, and
so she has to take job In cotton MN
in little Massachusetts burg. here
where Ermyntrude begins to exhibit het
hl0NI h,,aa - 1Nnr
see, and it seems that the Darrells were
the whole thing. more or less. When IL
came to the herd book. The barrels traced
'emselves back to Hugh of Hastings, or
Ermyntrude just can't get away from that
fact to save her life. She's so naughty
with the rest Of the mill girls that she
don't make hit at all. and. naturally
enough, they give her the jibe a whole
heap. Well, every time one of the mill
girls takes verbal crack at Ermyntrude,
Ermyntrude just draws herself up to her
full height and bites her under lip and
looks naughty, and says: L am Darrell!
Good thing, amt it? The landlady of her
boarding house tells Ermyntrude that she d
like to have her keep her room bit tidier
and make up her bed before going to work
in the morning. and Ermyntrude does the
full height stunt and exclaims: 1 am a
Darrell! The young woman at the depart
ment store presumes to remark to Ermyn-
trude when Ermyntrude is making some
Httlc purchase, indl 1t Is d IIe bdS' anu
Ermyntrude elongates herself usual and
says: am a Darrell The CHEEKY post
man hands her letter, at the same time
voicing his opinion that it looks something
like rain, and Ermyntrude gaZes down a,
him from a great height, vouchSanng the
following information: i am a Darrell!
A prosperous young butcher of the town
ship brushes up a little to Ermyntrude and
has the horrible gall to invite her, properly
chapercned to accompany him for a little
ride III his fine new T-cart. and she gains
the usual number Of inches, bites her under
lip ferociously. and makes use of the phrase
here affixed: L am a Darrell! Say, it was
just fascinat ting to read that book. that's
all! l never knew before what a dub l was
in the matter of breeding until l read it.
The farthest can get back Is to my great
granddad and, give it to you on the level,
don't know any more about him than l
ought to, and tell you what, it was a de-
light to me to find out. that there are such
warm propositions in this country as En-
myntrude in the matter of breeding. I'm
Darrell! she goes right along saying from
cover to covert counted the phrase, and
expression of pique and chagrin and sur
prise and haUteur that shines in her eyes
when this I am a DARRELL. gag fails to
shrlvel EN- up and throw EN- into salaam-
Ing fits must nave been sad to see. 1 sure
would like to have been around to pipe off
Ermyntrude, when she was saying I am a
Darrell! and then looking for them to
quake and fall down where they stood and
II ever l happen to meet up with anybody
by the name O. DARRELL
well, that's my name" solemnly re-
marked the heavy-jawed man. and then the
blg-1owled man turned pale and fell back
ward off the platform.