The Lamar register., 1902-04-16
Hodges Roof Garden
Rhapsody
BY JOHN H. RAFrERY.

j. Dillingham; Hodges mind was
made up. Mn. Lunetta, the clairvoy-
ant, had told him that he would make
his fortune through Cupid, and there
fore he buckled down to the business
of winning his way. He had reached
that age when his complexion worried
him. Nature had not done much for
him, and therefore he began to heed
those arts which are supposed to make
the old young and the young mature.
He had begun to shave, but the hirsute
results were as yet hardly tangible.
Then there were those disfguring
pimples! Nothing seemed TO quite
reache them. He spent good part of
his salary buying hair growers and der
matological cure-alls, hoping against
hope that soon the day would come
when he would sally forth with waxed
mustachios and an Incompatible COM
plexion to win the heiress.
No matter how gayly he attired his
gangling form, the girls, or at least
the desirable. well-groomed, knowing
ones, never gave him a second glance.
He followed the fashions as closely as
IN $1s-a-week clerk ctsn follow them,
anybody on his looks. The big bows
in his low-quarter shoes and the drop
stitch socks of vocal designs didn't
help him at all. He began to think
that he was foreordained to failure
and that, being doomed to loveless
life. He must be n genius. Then he
began to write 'poems" about the
moon and let his hair grow down over
his raglan.
He was well launched on this phase
of his decline when he met her. He
was coming uptown on Cottage
Grove avenue car when he noticed
standing on the back platform the one
girl. She wore maroon automobile.
a Gainsborough hat, diaphanous veil
so palely blue that it glorified the
wonderful beauty of her face, white
gloves and lot of other things that j.
Dillingham; couldn't name, but which
exhaled a wondrous perfume and flut-
tered in the evening breeze like an
angels wings.
As he looked at her she seemed to
regard him with u lingering interest.
AHA" though /. Dillingham;. "At
last 1 am discovered! Now, indeed,
know what love at first sight is"
He began to hope that the train
would collide with something so that
he could rescue her. He speculated
upon the possible conduct of her rich
father when they should arrive at the
mansion, whether he might offer a
mere pecuniary reward and how he, ].
Dillingham; Hodge, having deposited n
fainting girl upon the $4OO drvan,
would spurn her fathers gold and de-
mand his daughters hand. When she
signaled the conductor to stop j. Dill
lingham sprang to his feet and beat
her to the car step. He wanted to
make sure that nobody jostTed her, but
the best he could do was to glare at n
cab driver whose vehicle came rattling
along hundred feet away.
Then, like some errant knight of old,
he determined to follow her like a
guardian spirit, unseen but ever pres
ent, ready at moments warning to
rush to her rescue. She seemed to fit
along the sidewalk, so nimble was her
graceful stride, and before Hodge real
ized that he had followed her two
blocks he found himself close at her
dainty, military heels as she fluttered
into the elevator of the Masonic Tenn
pie and coyly gurgled: "Top floor,
please"
Joy. joy" murmured ]. Diling-
ham, fumbling the SO that lay in his
trousers pocket. "oh, joy! At least
I can sit and watcn her divine face
till the show is over"
But he was destined to yet greater
happiness. She had no sooner
reached the roof garden door than
she began to tumble in her purse. A
pretty frown fretted her beautiful
brow; she stamped her little foot
fiercely on the tiles, bit her lip and
snapped:
Left it at home! How stupid"
She was talking to herself, but Mr..
Hodge heard her, and, with a reck-
lessness that brought his heart
humping against his wisdom teeth.
he accosted her with:
~ beg your pardon, madame, but I
see you have forgotten your ticket
and perhaps your money. May I
have the honor of getting one for
your"
1t was an audacious move, but the
ardent Hodges narrow chest heaved
with conscious pride as he saw the
demure smile of appreciation and
even admiration that spread beneath
her veil like a halo of warm light.
"Oh, thank you," she cooed, read
ing his card while he bought tickets