Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-02-04
CHARM OF THE OVERHEARD
strange Fascination OF Remarks Not
nj Fer Our Ears.

StraWwe FASCINATION OF U Not
Msaat rer Our Ears.
Why IL II that the legitimate CONVEX.
sations Of our associates. to which we
have hardened from the beginning and
which We are predestined to follow
slackly TO the end, should so often fall
to interest US. whereas the interrupted
remarks we oyerhear and which were
never meant for our ears. ill us with
the liveliest curiosity and concernf The
breaking of OF u serial story Is a trial
to most mems minds. But we know
that another month will bring another
number. The inevitable breaking OF
OF a eauscrie In which we have no
share hlls us with Il sense Of hopeless
and ifremediable loss. once over.
heard an old English lady say. with
slow emphasis. to y friend IL Is q
charming book. a charming book. II
is J,ist the kind OF q book you would
want 10 give TO FOUR dressmaker.' And
for ii.ipeu Years | have ~speculated In
vain as Ia what that volume was.
Apart from The manifest indiscretion
OF giving ANY book 10 one dressmaker
and thus withdrawing her attention
| from ones clothes. the only appropri
atc literature | can think DC Is the IN
structiye history OF Ananias and Sap
phira. and that has ceased to charm.
a ma waiting patiently 1T The glove
counter OF n New York department
store heard one young sllopwnmnn say
to another AZ she handed dawn a box
Of gloves. MARIA told him downright
she'd have nothing more To do with
him aud she called him n poison faced
adder. he gripped her In the waltz
that scandalons.'
This was MI! Customers clamore6
for attention, and the confidence ceased
at this point. But the force and rich,
ness of the language. the liveliness Of
the alinsion, captisatcd the hearers
soul. He confessed that for years aft
erward, when he was waltzing. with
dcc0rous reluctance under the compel
ling eye OF his hostess. memories Of Ma
ria's partner would assail him and he
would find himself envylng the adder
the mysterious nature OF his enthnsi-
asm.
X sometimes happens that fortune
favors us beyond our deserts or our de-
sires, and the conversation TO which
we have no right to listen. but which
we cannot well help hearing. goes on
as TRANQUILITY In a railway carriage or
on a steamer deck MS though we were
not In close and helpless proximity.
English travellers are particularly ex.
haustiye In their condolences and par
ticularly Indifferent 10 their surround,
ings. In one hour on a Como boat
have learned n whole family history.
full Of purely domestic f~eAtures-how
Dan had been sent to school nj Iau.
sanne because he was SC troublesome
and the school 10 cheap, and how Con
ME Ia sist~er.in-law, Think made the
CASTLE II most unpleasant place Of
residence, and how Laura. with her
three children. came to stay q week
just when granny was dying, which
was, to say the least. i~nconvenicnt. and
how the trouble between Harold and
his wife lay entirely In the bringing ny
Of the children. At this point the dc
tails became too intimate for repeti,
tIon. though there was no question Of
withholding them from my ears.
felt like n fellow countryman who once
r veled from bordeaux TO Paris In the
company Of a young Englishwoman
her sister. nurse and child. II entered
that railway carriage" he said. ian In
nocent American bachelor. ! left 1t ca
pable Of running a day nursery. nm In
FAINT school or a mothers congress. -
Agnes I,epplier In Life.