Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-29
MEN ARE so FOOLISH

The girl in the flower shop-the girl with
the wavy brol re hair and the remarkably
white hands that are acutely observed when
she fastens the biithe bountonniere to the
masculine coat lapel-lapsed into a reverie
OF words the other afternoon.
II do feel SO sorry for men sometimes"
she said In a tone that wasn't in the least
sorrowful. 'The poor creatures are SO
amusing. and yet so unconsciously pathetic
that-well do you know. often think that
few OF them. saving your presence-nothing
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES dye call it-exactly
rIght-all there-correctly adjusted-properly
geared-on straight
For whyr' the bronze haired one was
asked.
"Oh. they do such absurd things. and
they are SO very, very easy. During the
before stage / verify believe that all OF
them are more or less unhlnged. But man
who came in here during the noon hour on
a day a couple Of weeks ago-I waited on
him. for the proprietor and all of the girls
except myself had gone to luncheon-had
about the worst case of 1t I've seen yet.
HE was such q sensible. fne-looking
man, too; giant from the west, as any
body could see at a glance, with tanned
face and a fine open-prairie way of talking,
like as II he knew he wasn't In church and
didn't have to whisper or humble his words
so many Washington men do that dread
fully nowadays. don't you thfnkf ana ne
had big, strong hands, and he didn't APP
pear as If he had silly bone in his big
frame.
well. he walked up to the counter like
a n 'oes when he goes into cigar store.
caught sight of a big bunch OF
br, es that 1 was swaddlng up with
VIII, .obon.
How much those? he asked me.
II told him.
"'How many dozen just like that have
you got in the plant?" he asked me.
about ten Dozen l replied
"'All right-Fll take en- he said quite
offhand, and then he began to look at the
other flowers. When he saw vase OF
American Beauty roses as big as double
chrysanthemums he asked me:
whats the figure for these?
" Twelve dollars Dozen. l told him.
Put about five dozen of them with the
Others he said, as If he had been ordering
box of matches.
Then he fell upon some trays of violets.
How muchT he inquired.
Dollar a hundred. 1 replied.
Got plenty Of them?'
Thousands
"'Well, I'll take about two thousand of
en- he said.
Anything elseT asked him.
We'll. I dunno he replied. rubbing his
chin like man in a sort of Quandary.
What do you think?
"'Well.' l said, you've already bought
quite a few flowers. you know. What Is 1t
to be-dinner. o'clock tea. ball. reception.
wedding
anyhow he replied, hurriedly. blushing
like a huge school boy. Later. maybe
hope So and for moment he looked SO
awkward and foolish that l felt freshly
sorry for him. Then he shook himself to-
gether again.
mo, it's not any of those things you
MENTION he went on in a confidential tone.
I'm just sending some flowers up to-er-
up to her house, that's all. You see. it's
this way. I'm only back here from the
ranch on a visit. Well, while I was up
at-er-up at her house last evening, why,
two or three punches of flowers came to
her from fel-well. they'd been sent to her
by somebody or other. OF course 1t oc-
CURED to me then that hadn't thought 10
send her any flowers since 1 struck town.
And, so, that's why I'm trying to make
good by sending up a few blossoms now
IA fewr I said. and 1 really couldn't
help laughing In the poor hulking creatures
face.
asked me. with an apprehensive look on his
big, good-natured face. Haven't l picked
out enough
"'Oh quite enough. said I. and Just the
right kind, too and at that point the pro-
prietor came in. and the huge foolish crea-
ture handed him array of yellow bills,
and the flowers were got together and sent
UP to the home of the lucky young woman
guardian-don't they all need guardians
and the bronze haired Hebe of the flower
shop laughed rpplingly.
But there are exceptions, of course. and
we do have some SURPRISES she went on.
I'm tell you about one Of the surprise
customers.
He first came In here a little more than
year ago and ordered an expensive box of
flowers to be sent to the home of lady
who lives on one of the uptown avenues.
After his first visit he dropped in, rain,
snow, sleet or shine, every day. and Sc
lected a beautiful lot of flowers to be sent
to the same Mrs He, of course, never
had any occasion to give his own name.
All of US girls decided that he was bache-
Tor or a widower-he was a middle-aged
mar-cultivating the good graces of an at
tractive widow, probably wealthy widow.
and we wondered how she looked. and all
that.
"One day after he had been sending her
flowers regularly every day for seven or
eight months, he failed to come in, and
the proprietor sent up handsome box Of
flowers to the address Of the Mrs any
how.
1.-THE next day the middle-aged wooer-as
we all imagined him to became in at his
usual hour.
"I thoroughly appreciate your sending
the flowers to my wife yesterday without
getting an order for Them he said to the
proprietor. My wife was a trifle indisposed
yesterday. and SO. of course 1 could not
leave her to get down town. But the flow
indebted to you for your thoughtfulness.'
THE proprietor looked at him in rather
a queer sort of way
"'Had I but known at the time of your
wedding the proprietor began-he was
going to say that had he known OF the
wedding he would have taken pleasure in
sending some of his most beautiful flowers
as a good-luck offering.
'Wedding?' said the middle-aged Gus
toner, looking mystified. don't believe
I quite understand what
Surely the proprietor tried to explain
your wedding has been quite recent,
and
"An exceedingly well-bred chuckle came
from the regular customer.
III give you the order to decorate our
house when celebrate silver wedding
early next year he said, between very
broad smiles, and then he went out.
Where does the surprise come In? Why,
the man was sending a box of flowers every
single, live-long day to-can't you see it?-
to his wife-his own wife!"
Walnuts in Washington State.