Smyrna times., 1902-01-29
The NiS0dVeD|u|e Of.
Mills Whist.
esSS9DS1GGGGeoeo
Wilmington Star.

OuS1ueSS bO e1pldlu, 10 drDlIFdte, W see
right In short, it is his mission to
pour oil on troubled waters and keep
people from sinking in any sea of
trouble.
The only time when Mr.. Whist talks
rapidly is in the court room. 1t has
long been his custom when examining |
a witness to knock him off his feet with |
a broadside of lnterrogations, and, i'm
paling him upon an eye-cart of cold
steel, catch him in the ear with snap
shot: "Answer me, sir. Any honest |
man can tell the truth" Mr.. Whist is
still of that opinion, with a mental
reservation. Any honest man can tell
the truth, but he does not always like
to.
1t would be necessary to know some
thing of Mr.. Whist personally in order
to fully appreciate the peculiar embar-
rassment of his situation, arising out
of complications hereinafter set out.
In the first place he is very much of an
aristocrat. His neck is sitter than
anybody's. In burst of confidence
he once told the Office boy his lineal
history. The Office boy in repeating it
to the stenographer said Mr.. Whist
could remember as far bask as William
the Conquerer whichever that was;
there was one in all the lodges, pa
said, but he thought N-r. Whist was a
Mason.
Anyway, Mr.. Whist is tall and for
NAL, with a set expression, cold blue
eyes and light hair except from arear
view, where it is reasonably heavy.
Mr.. Whist is so precise and deliberate
in enunciation that when he says any
thing it sounds like paragraph out of
an encyclopedia. He associates only
with the upper class, not that
class which has been thrown to the top
by volcanic eruption of prosperity in
trade, but people Of education and re-
finement, as we'll as money; people
whose ancestors had coat of arms for
q social trade mark and spoke Chau-
cerian English. 1t will be understood
after his confidential advice, that Mr..
Whist's coterie of friends, though Sc
lect. is small. To obviate any hard
feeling, it should be added, perhaps,
that Willis Whist is only late of Phila'
delphia, and has not located all the
reservoirs of blue blood in Kansa;
City.
If a seer or a foreseer had ever felt
free to tell Mr.. Whist that he would
one day get his social and business re
lations mixed, that unwary person
would have been instantly frozel
under a snow slide of offended hauteu
on the part of Mr.. Whist. Had MIR
Whist himself conceived that possibil
ity, he would have turned black in tn
face. Yet that is exactly what hap
pened.
Willis Whist had been pressing tw
suits, legal and matrimonial; lookin
after, you might say, personal an
property interest. Just following tn
last term of court. Brown Towne,
young farmer engaged his services
convict the criminal in a cattle swindlt
1t was big case and there was lots
money in it-for Mr.. Whist.
The other suit; ah, that is tendt
subiectl 1t can be best described
his own words:
Fair was Eliza, the English girl,
Lins like ruby, teeth like pearl,
Blue ewes like the summer sea.
Dimples lurked where they ought to
Roses bloumed on her ozal cheek,
Music sounded did she but speak;
Soul sunshine lit her winsome face,
Every act had nameless grace:
And all that. There were seventee
of the couplets, describing her dispos
ton, her dress and the way she did b
hair. Mr.. Whist expected to look ov
the edge of his collar and read them
her Immediately preceding his avow
of affection and proposal of marriag
which he had docketed for a spec
session to be held next Sunday aftt
noon. 1t may be that Eliza will ney
know these pretty thing about herse
They may be lost to femininlty,
Mr.. Whist would not adapt them
another girl. He is just origin
enough not to think about that.
could, all right, by changing the co
a little, and he ought to do it. Wa
ing sentiments like these is equivale
to throwing out fresh milk in the fa'
of thirsty cats, or refusing to feed
yellow cats, because the bluff cat "
not eat. But love is not politics.
is not question of expediency, no1
the greatest good to the greatest nu
ber. Besides, in love, as in otl
phenomena, Mr.. Whist does not
long to the job lot of men. Mr.. VIII
himself, can love but once. While
true that most of men do love
once, at a time, for Mr.. Whist, th
is only one love and one time, and
name of one is Eliza and the othe
Now.
There had been every mathemat
and zodiacal calculation of the s