Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1905-09-23
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MAKING
A Show
BY D. j. FINLAY.
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BY D. ]. FINLAY.

by the hour whenever we were to-
gether; but there was one subject oil
which, for number of years, had
failed to draw him out; and that was
often matter of serious thought to
me, and l determined to find good
opportunity to get at the facts in the
case.
One evening, rs we sat together in
my mcle's comfortable mansion, |
found him in n very communicative
mood and, to my establishment, he
preached the subject which had
promised to bring up.
"My dear boy" said he, 81 suppose
you have often wondered why / re.
manned an old bachelor?"
eyes, uncle" said ], in an airy, off
hand way which did not at all betray
the depth of my curiosity. 81 am sure
you must have had ample opportunity
to see the cream Of society and make a
suitable choice of n companion"
Well said he, 81 will tell you; and
the story may be n good subject for
your dreams of future speculation.
when l was young man was
rather fond of making good show in
society. At times this was performed
on very limited capital. Shortly
after settled in New York made the
acquaintance of beautiful and esti.
mable young lady, Miss Clorinda Swan,
and | lost 10 time in paving the way
for a matrimonial alliance with her
zone evening the subject of CONVERSE
ton between us ran upon operas, and
the upshOt of it was that l invited
Clorinda to go to the Academy of
Music the next evening. AS | have
said, my means were then rather i'm
tied, and now l had just enough left
to pay for the tickets, but no surplus
for carriage, supper and ct cetcras.
With these determined to dispense. as
thought my fair Clorinda was too
sensible to be affected by the loss.
rne F sEF{hRg fSS9rfdh e And the %eS tt
dry, SO ut the appointed time l made
my appearance, dressed in the best |
could afford, and waited patiently for
ClOrlnda. She soon put all my fears on
the carriage question to flight by as
surfing me that she preferred walking.
I'VE chatted gayly OH the way to the
Academy and were in due time for the
performance, which was the opera of
Martha, with popular prima donna
in the leading role. OF the perform
ance I need not speak. The opera
was all that we could desire, and was
rendered most admirably.
when the performance was over we
descended the stairs amid the gay
throng, and soon reached the sidewalk
But, oh, horror of horrors! 1t was
raining! What was l to do? To get
carriage, without having n cent to
pay for it, made my blood run cold.
A happy thought occurred to me in a
moment, and in a nervous whisper /
asked Clorlnda If she had rubbers on;
but, to my dismay, she answered.:
No; my boots are very light, too,
and could not think OF walking. We
must get carriage
VI NOulSO, NhtIc WIS lCl
for me to do but to face the music,
and l hailed one of the many drivers
who was anxious to get passengers.
l assisted my fair Clorlnda to a seat,
and in few moments we were whirl-
ing along through the rain. Hardly
had we gone two blocks when Clorinda
said she was hungry, and asked me
to stop and get supper. My feelings
can easier be imagined than described,
as l thought Of my empty pockets,
and tried to reason her out of eating
so late at night All my arguments
were fruitless, however, for my dear
ClOrinda was not to be thwarted.
Thinking that fortune might be-
friend me by some means then a mys-
terry to me, l ordered the driver to
stop at the nearest restaurant. We ell
tered a saloon and took seats at table
in the centre of the room. | deter
mined to eat as little as possible, but
ClOrinda was not by any means so del
'icate, and quietly took the liberty of or
derlng what she wanted. In vain |
looked around to see il by chance the
saloon contained an acquaintance; but,
to my dismay, not familiar face was
visible.
"As you may well imagine, was not
In hurry to leave the table. but my
companion began to show signs of rest
less anxiety to get home, so thought
l had bettor start and have 1t over as
soon as possible.
II had formed many plans of how
was TO paclfy the cashier at the desk,
but the wretch had more human nature
In him than imagined.
"While walking down the saloon
turned to Clorinda and suggested that
she had better go out and get into the
carriage while 1 was settling the bill
and buying some cigars, which 1 want
ed to take with me. To this, fortunate
ly, she made no objection.
81 walked on till l came In front of
the smiling individual who was wait
ing for my cash, and with as bold an
air Of innocence as l could assume,
/ told him had forgotten my pocket
book in the hurry of getting ready
for the theatre, but l would call next
day and settle the bill.
Too thin story to pass here, sir
he calculated. we do a strictly cash
business
Isl don't want to be bullied about
such a trife,' continued; but the man
had completely changed into n hog by
this time, and, coming out from his
place behind the desk, he looked wick
ed enough to choke me then and there.
=" 4 will call policeman and have
you arrested.' he snid. In n menncinR