The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-10-21
MAKING A SHOW.

1 had always greater regard fol
my Uncle George than for any of my
relatives. The reason for this was
doubtless, that he was more commu.
nicative and companionable than any
relative outside of my immediate
family. He would sit down and spin
yarns for me by the hour whenever
we were together but there was one
subject on which, for a number ol
years, / had failed to draw him out
and that was often matter of serious
thought to me, and I determined to
find a good opportunity to get at the
facts in the case.
One evening, as we sat together in
my uncle's comfortable mansion, ]
found him in a very communicative
mood, and, to my astonishment, he
broached the subject which I had
promised to bring up.
''My dear boy" said he, II sup
pose you have often wondered why I
remained an old bachelor?"
Eyes, uncle" said I, in an airy,
off hand way which did not at all
betray the depth of my curiosity. II
am sure you must have had ample
opportunity 10 see the cream of society
and make suitable choice of COM
panion."
"Well," said he, II will tell you !;
and the story may be good subject
for your dreams of future speculation.
"When 1 was young man I was
rather fond of making good show in
society. At times this was perform
ed on very limited capital. Shortly
after 1 settled in New York 1 made
the acquaintance of beautiful and
estimable young lady, Miss Clorinda
Swan, and l lost no time in paving
the way for matrimonial alliance
with her.
Zone evening the subject of con-
versation between US ran upon operas,
and the upshot of it was that I in
vited Ciorinda to go to the Academy
of Music the next evening. AS I
have said, my means were then rather
limited, and now I had just enough
left to pay for the tickets, but no sur
plus for carriage. supper and ct cete-
ras. With these / determined to dis
pense, as I thought my fair Clorinda
was too sensible to be affected by the
loss.
Fortune favored me at the start /;
the evening was fine and the weather
dry, so at the appointed time I made
my appearance, dressed in the best /
could afford, and waited patiently for
Clorinda. She soon put all my fears
on the carriage question to fight
by assuring me that she preferred
walking.
I'VE chatted gayly on 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 performance / need not speak.
The opera was all that we could de-
sire, and was rendered most admirably.
when the performance was over
we descended the stairs amid the gay
throng, and soon reached the side
walk. But, oh, horror of horrors
1t was raining What was / to do
To get carriage, without having a
cent to pay for it, made my blood run
cold. A happy thought occurred to
me in moment, and in a nervous
whisper 1 asked Clorinda if she had
rubbers on; but, to my dismay, she
answered
"'No my boots are very light,
too, and 1 could not think of walking.
We must get carriage.
"Of course, there was nothing left
for me to do but to face the music,
and hailed one of the many drivers
who was anxious to get passengers.
1 assisted my fair Clorinda to seat
and in few moments we were whirl-
ing along through the rain. Hardly
had we gone two blocks when Clo
rinda said she was hungry, and asked
me to stop and get supper. Ny feel
ings can easier be imagined than de-
scribed, as 1 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 mys
terry to me, ordered the driver t.
stop at the nearest restaurant. W.
entered saloon and took seats at /:
table in the centre of the room.
determined to eat as little as possible
but Clorinda was not by any mean
so delicate, and quietly took the lib
erty of ordering what she wanted
In vain I looked around to see if by
chance the saloon contained an &C
quaintance but, to my dismay, no
a familiar face was visible.
"As you may well imagine, l wa
not in hurry to leave the table, bu
my companion began to show sign
of restless anxiety to get home, so
thought had better start and hav'
it over as soon as possible.
"I had formed many plans of hov
was to pacify the cashier at tn
desk, but the wretch had more humai
nature in him than I imagined.
while walking down the salool
turned to Clorinda and suggested