The Republican., 1900-04-26
The NeighbOrly CinCh Club

rive MIS-. MAJOR was IN UfemOr OF
excitement every time she heard foot
falls on the pavement in front of the
house. 1t was the first time the
Majors were to entertain the cinch
club and the hostess was as nervous
as a hostess can be expected to be on
such an occasion. What added to her
case of NERVES" was the calm and
unruffled spirit in which her lord and
master watched the proceedings and
from time to time offered a sarcastic
suggestion. He smoked his cigar and
lounged in the coy corner as un-
moved as though the reception of ten
or a dozen critical people for an even
ing was an event of no moment, while
Mrs. Major knew to certainty that
everything in the house from the car
pet to the spoons would be weighed,
measured and found wanting by the
sharp-eyes of the women members of
the club.
81 should think" she said to her
husband, you would take it on your
self to do a little something toward
helping me-" At that moment she
was industriously picking up each of
the parlor chairs, moving it about two
inches and setting it down again
She imagined she was doing wonders
in the way of interior decoration and
arrangement by these marvellous
changes in the makeup of the parlor
What do you want me to do?"
asked her husband lazily. you seem
to be shifting things around pretty
well. Do you want to turn the car
pet?"
Mrs. Major paused in the center of
the room and surveyed everything
with sweeping glance. 1t looked all
right. Nobody had stolen the piano
or removed the wallpaper since she
looked at it last.
"Oh, | suppose you would be salts
fed to have all those people come in
here even if the house looked like
fright" she said at length. It's just
like a man."
After awhile the bell jingled and
the girl hurried to the door. Mrs.
Major had started to answer the ring
herself but remembered in time that
it would be beastly bad form and
therefore seated herself on the ex-
treme edge of chair just inside the
parlor door.
There's some peoples wants to see
you" said the girl in her innocent,
foreign way.
The cinch club came in, bustling and
chattering. Mrs. Major found it in
cumbent upon her as hostess to kiss
each of the women while her husband
shook hands heartily with the men,
and said we had been having some
weather. There was a shedding of
wraps and shuffiing off of rubbers until
the hall tree looked like a secondhand
store, and at length the whole club was
seated in the parlor and dining-room,
into which latter apartment the over
flow was conducted by Mr.. Major and
there entertained while his wife sym
pathized with Mrs. Bryson, who had
facial neuralgia, and Mrs. Emerson.
whose nose would get red in frosty
weather. A sudden pause in the con-
versation of the ladies occurred, and
tut NOlCC VI MI. WIS HtdIu
in the dining-room:
That's an awful bluff Choynski is
throwing out about having a broken
rib" he said. 81 think Walcott just
slammed the life out of him, and he's
dub to holler now"
Mrs. Major elevated her eyebrows
slightly, and suggested that perhaps it
was time to begin playing. The club
was paired off so everybody was the
partner of somebody else's wife. and
Mr.. Hermann, the irreverent young
bachelor, drew Mrs. Major as his part
ner, while her husband sat opposite
Miss Underwood. the wide-eyed won
dering young thing who was taking
her first steps into deliciously wicked
world, and seemed to enjoy the prog
ress she had made. Three decks of
cards were produced, and two small
tables pressed into service in addition
to the dining-table and the Neighbor-
ly Cinch club was in full action. Mrs
Majors attention to her hand was some
what distracted in the early stages of
the first game by Mrs. Bryson's appar-
ent interest in the texture of the table
cloth. Indeed, so much was her atten-
tion diverted from the fine points of
the game that she played her five of
clubs on the ace laid down by Mr.
Major, one of her opponents.
"If you've got too many of those
pedros you might keep one or two m
til play an ace or a king" suggested
her partner, Mr.. Hermann.
Mrs. Major flushed and said:
'Oh, did do that? How stupid of
me-"
81 see what you're doing" went on
her partner; you're in conspiracy
with your husband, and you want to
keep him from being beaten. That's a
nice way, to treat your partner"
Mr.. Major laughed, and his partner
threw him the other pedro, whereat
Mrs. Major looked at Miss Underwood
with poorly-concealed i'll favor. She
began to suspect that the mods and
smiles exchanged between her husband
and Miss Underwood had more in them
than appeared on the surface Sud-
denly little shrek from another table
claimed the attention of all the play