, 1904-03-23
A REPORTERS STORY
[Origlnal.l

a stove at midnight, have it in our
power to do lots of good or lots of
harm"
"What d'you mean?' asked one Of
the party.
"Oh, there are millions of ways.
What have in my mind just now is
suddenly thrusting some one into
prominence. When | was looking
after the social lions | made a deal
with an impoverished swell to give me
| spicy bits about them. He had the en-
tree, and hadn't. Well, n day he
told me that Lord M%artingale, a fresh
importation from London, had said
that a certain Mrs. Ringletter he had
seen in Central park beat anything for
beauty they had in England. Here's
a CO. | said to my informer. L know
Mrs. Ringletter. I'll just run that
! item in the social tidbits mex Sunday,
and she'll be tickled to death
Sure enough, the next Sunday
morning | cooked up a beautiful an
nouncement of the fact that we had a
| prettier oma in New York than
| they had in London and no less a
| critic than Lord Martingale had said
so. A few days later | met Guy Ring
letter, and he told me his wife had
suddenly stumbled on to the item and
it had pleased her immensely.
''That's all | thought about the mat
| ter. You know we fellows can't keep
our minds on one subject very long.
| One evening | dropped into the Metro
| politan Opera House to jot down who
was there, when l heard two swells
talking beside me. One of them spoke
with a decidedly English accent.
"'Can you tell me who that woman
is in the first box from the stage in the
second tierY' he was saying.
""That's young Mrs. Mickelton, re-
Gently married. Why do you ask?'
because she is the most beautiful
woman l ever saw. We've nothing
like her in London
"'You don't meal it.
"Well, | SKINNED around and found
out who the fellows were and learned
that one of them was Lord Martingale.
Now, you may suppose that l remem-
bered what he'd said about my friend,
Mrs. Ringletter, but l had clean forgot
ten it. Back l went to the office and
wrote out that Lord Martingale had
remarked at the opera that young Mrs.
Mickelton was the most beautiful wom-
an in New York and there was nothing
like her in London.
"About a week after that | was stroll
ing along upper Broadway. l had just
lighted a cigar and was feeling very
comfortable. Truth is 1 had $40 in my
pocket, something that hadn't occurred
before since l entered journalism, and
1 was wishing some one would come
along that | could blow off, l felt a
touch on my arm and, turning, saw a
seedy individual looking out of a pair
of the most melancholy eyes | ever
saw. 1 was about to give him a nickel
when l stood stock still with astonish-
ment.
"'Guy Ringletter, can this be you?
eyes he said mournfully.
whats the matterT
"Iye been ruined
"'Come in here and tell me about it.
81 led him into a cafe. We sat down
at one of the tables, and l called for a
lunch and something with which to
wash it down. Now 1 said, let's
hear it.
"Do you remember nearly q year
ago an item you put in your paper
stating that Lord Martingale had said
that my wife was the most beautiful
woman in New York;
"Slowly the matter got back into my
brain.
Eyes 1 said. 4 think I remember
something like that
"'Well, when you published that item
l was fairly prosperous. | was doing
a good business and making money.
But from the appearance Of your state
ment l saw a change in Lucy. One
day she told me that now we were do
ing so we'll we ought to go out more,
and | soon learned that she meant we
were to begin a systematic climbing to
get into the Four Hundred set. 1 did
what l could to dissuade her, but 1t
was no use. The queen of society bee
had got into her bonnet; Lord Martin
gale had said that she was the most
beautiful woman in New York and by
the spending of some money she could
easily enter the elect set and with such
a recommendation at once become a
leader.
"The most fashionable dressmaker
was hired for her clothes, and the prin-
cipal jeweler of the city furnished the
gems. We gave two entertainments and
got in five swells in all. They were
young men of fashion who live by their
wits and were glad to get .'full' on my
champagne. Several ONE who
claimed to be in the smart set were at
our s%oirees, but we found out after
ward that they were impostors.
Meanwhile the bills began to come
in, and l found the work of setting my
wife up as a professional beauty was a
terrible expense. You see, l couldn't
attend IN nv business and keep track