The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-23
THE TRUE Mr.. RANGE
i AND THE FALSE.
Gentleman George, Against the Ad-
vice of His Pal, Picks an Old
Man as His Victim

~ 49, SOSA Ay
as LIES pack diminishes the black cards
lie near the bottom. Yout' not unly has
the swing of good luck with 1t, which comes
az II by hypnotism t,roo high sperrlts and
exub'rant hopes: but whin things do go
wrong. thin there is plenty Of time left for
thin to mend. Convussly, the clutch OF
old age on what it has and for what It
wants 10 that Of the drownin' man, who
hangs on for all he's wuth to the straw
tina is sutten to drown him.
HINGE, l had allus fought shy OF the aged,
believin' thin harder to do and harder whin
done But Jarge-meanin' thereby Gentle
man George Ringgold, my pardner and CHIEF
-wudn't hear Of sech misgivings. He WA
sure there was rich pickings and TO boot TO be
had of Mr.. Reginald Range, SECRETARY ana
trisurer Of the Charakter Surety Company.
l admitted the unpicked pickings. Mr..
Range had served his company, these many
years, for love-the love of money. AS
it nae grown strong he had grown rich
and his wealth was a proof Of its strengt'.
Now, he was old; yet k many
box Of dates, well preserved. Oh, yis; l
admitted the pickings; it was the boot l
was worryin' about.
Mr.. Range was keen and suspishus. His
~occypashun had taught him to watch out
everywhere for ~rascals-excipt, OF course,
to hum. He was close and tight as chilled
steel; no hold or openin' for the jimmy
of charity or the dynamite Of scandal.
How, thin, was a peck of unpiched pick
ings to be picked of him was a queschun
which might hev' puzzled even Peter Piper
hisself. large answered to onct.
The old guy he said, lis payin' atten-
shuns to Mrs. Madge DeYyne, a dashin'
widow, who lives in bangup style at the
Excilcis--"
$50 much the wuss," / interrupted. She
will stop anything that be let's 60
THE last time / seen her, large con-
tinnered unmoved, was in Wyoming prison.
She was peelin' potatoes In a calico COB.
In odder wuds, she is no less than Nellie
WirtZ, the notor'us confidence queen
And thin he went on to explain that he
was no more eager han / to pit his wits
against Mr.. Ranges age, natur' and ex-
per'ence.
well give her a free hand,' he said,
until it is a full hand, and thin. Of course,
wen take it,"
Not 80 bad, but still a dub'us chanel to
my mind, a chanel in a mintal and morrul
grab bag. What the Frinoh are pleased TO
call the etarnal fiminine is a riddle with a
different answer in livery case. How can
wan argue from cause to effeok. what a
woman will liver do or not do whin her
unly cause is because2
Howiver, Jara held the puss; and that
ruled even in 80 small a community as
our'n. 1t was we'll lined, too. In order to
be filed again it wud have to be implied;
and where cud we better have the conse-
quent fling than at the Excilsis1 So to
the Exoilsis we wint.
1t was a luxur'us billet. timptin' to the
appetite and inspirin' of thirst, with naw-
thin to do bechune snacks and rounds but
keep a sharp eye peeled for the widder and
her ardint admirer.
They were a familiar sight to all the
habituals. He KEN regular about s livery
AFTERNOON. He left regular abou tin in
the eyenin'. In the interval they consumed
saft stuff, fust in the dining room and thin
In a cosey corner of the parlor.
1t is remarkable how she stud seoh old
time coortin' without loss OF bloom or slip
Of a yawn. P'raps she KEEP her eyes fixed
stidily on the goal-his finish, that Ia to say.
Suttenly he wud make a ~skelington at
an Egypshun feast take on flesh and blood.
So bint, 80 withered, with sech strongly
marked features and clothes, he looked like
the reinoarnashun Of his own grandfather:
and Wit there was somethin' to the set of
his Jaws tibet seemed to say to me that he
had no intenshun Of lettin' the weight Of his
Yesterdays slap his tomorrers up aginst
the beam of etarnity.
Speakin' OF strongly marked features
and clothes, / desire to dissint from the
common idee that they reflect the individu-
atty Of the raj possessing and wearing
thin. 1t is rather they that hev' the in
dividuality than him.
For instinks, we may reminder that a
sutten man has a shock of white hair and
whisker, a great big nose with his glasses
balanced on the ind of it to the delight OF the
Lard and a suit moulded by long use to
livery bump and tunn Of his frame. as IL
bv the LAWYER Of old Vesuv'us itself, but
this il all we do reminder Of him. HINGE,
SEEM the hair, w~hiskers, nose, glasses
and suit in circumstances where he shud
be, we take it for granted he is there.
The applioashun Of the above lies In the
fact that these were the attributes per-
tainin' to Mr.. Range, or rather to which
he ~pertained, as will p~risintly appear.
Wan evenin' the proprietor KEN to large
andm me as we set samplin' the chloe producks
Of the weed and vine.
viii you two gents be so good he said
most affable, -to act as witnesses at an
interestin' ceremony
And thin he whit on to tell how Mrs.
Devyne and Mr.. Range had suddintly
dissolved TO "a time by the forelook
and shake all futur jys out OF him by in
term to onct into the sacrid stocks and
bonds OF matrimony. 1t was the chanel
we he'd been waitin' for; at the wud We
follered into the little reoepshun room.
The happy pair he'd already took their
stashun under the dim, religious light OF the
elictroleer, Mr.. Range blnkin' t'roo his
glasses at the hotel Clergyman who faced
thin. like an astronomer mistaken a glow
wlm for a star OF fust magnitude. The
holy wuds was said, the VOWS was ex-
changed, the not tied, and We preferred
our congratelashuns.
As we stud at the top OF the stairs t'rowin'
more m~itaphorical rice and promisin' to