Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1906-08-16

another SUCH for triumphal feast in
the abode Of Barbarian Silas Higbee.
The admirable host--if one be broad
mindedis now in the drawing-room
Sc eonding his worthy wife and pretty
laughter who welcome the dinner
guests.
For a man who has fad for ham
and doesn't care who knows it, his
bearing is all we have right to ex-
pect that 1t should be. Among the
group of arrivals, men of his own
sort, he is speaking of the ever-shift-
ing fashion in boards, to the evangel
of Texas oil field who fiaunts to the
world one OF those heavy mustaches
spuriously extended below the corners
OF the mouth by means Of the chin
growth of hair. Another, worthy
tribesman from Snohomish, Washing
ton, wears beard which, for score
of years, has been let to be it's own
true self; to express, fearlessly, its own
unique capacity for variation from
| type. These two have rallied their
host upon his modshly trimmed side
whiskers.
You're right" says Mr.. Higbee,
amiably, II amt stuck any myself on
this way of trimming up a mans face,
| but the madam will have it this way
says it looks more refined and New
Yorky And now, do you know, ever
since I've worn 'em this way-ever
since | had 'em scraped from around
| I IN lnr INV IL -,
Florida every winter. Come January
or February, | get bronchitis every
blamed year,"
Two OF the guests only are alien to
the barbaric throng.
| There is the noble Baron Ronau,t
de Palliac, decorated, reserved, observ-
ant-almost wistful. For the moment
he is picturing dutifully the luxuIies a
certain marriage would enable him to
procure for his noble father and his
aged mother, who eagerly await the
news of his quest for the golden fleece.
For the baron contemplates. after the
| fashion OF many conscientious eXp!or-
ers, a marriage with a native woman:
! though he permits himself to cherish
the hope that 1t may not be condi-
toned upon his adopting the manners
and customs Of the particular tribe
that he means to honor. Monsieur the
baron has long since been obliged to
confess that suitable mesallance is
none too easy of achievement, and. in
testimony Of his vicissitudes, he has
written for a Paris comic paper a
series OF grimly satiriC essays upon
New York society. Recently, moreover,
| he has been upon the verge of accept
ing employment in the candy factory
OF bourgeois compatriot. But hope
has little revived in the noble breast
since chance brought him and his title
under the scrutiny of the bewitching
Miss Millicent Higbee and her appre-
ciative mother.
And tonight there is not only the
pretty Miss Higbee, but the winning
Miss Bines, whose dot. the baron has
been led to understand, would permit
his beloved father unlimited piquet at
his club, to say nothing of regenerat.
ing the family chateau. Yet these are
hardly matters to be gossiped of. 1t
is enough to know that the Baron
Ronault de Palliac when he discovers
himself at table between Miss Bines
and the adorable Miss Higbee, becomes
less saturnine than has for some time
Eeen his wont. He does not forget pre-.
vious disappointments, but desperately
snaps his swarthy jaws in commend
able superiority to any adverse fate.
The other alien, Taunton Oldaker, was
present under terms of honorable truce
willingly and without Interior motive
Saving-as he confessed to himself
consuming desire to see how the
other half lives" He was no longer
the hunted and dismayed being Per-
cival had met in that far-off and i'm
possible Montana; but was now I'm.
troubled, remembering, it is true, that
his Summing expedition" as he
termed it, had taken him beyond the
recognized bounds of his beloved New
York, but serene in the consciousness
that half an hours drive would land
him safely back at his club.
Oldaker observed Miss Psyche Bines
approvingly.
I'VE are so glad to be in New York;
she had confided to him, sitting at he1
right.
My dear young woman" he warned
her, you haven't reached New York
yet" The talk being general and loud
he ventured further.
This is, Pittsburg, Chicago, Kansas
lCity, rDenver-almost anything bu
New York"
"Of course l know these are not the
swell old families"
Oldaker slipped his glass of old Olo
roso sherry and discoursed.
And our prominent families, the
ones whose names you read, are mo-
New York any more, either. They are
rather London and Paris. Their furni
ture, clothing, plate, pictures and serv.
ants come from one or the other. Yes
and their manners, too, their interest.
and sympathies and concerns, theil
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., their-er-
morals. They are assuredly not New
York any more than Gobelin tapestrie:
and Fortuny pictures and Louis Seiz,
chairs are New York"
How queerly you talk. Where /.
New York, them"
Oldaker sighed thoughtfully between
two spoonfuls of tortue verte, claire.
well, suppose the truth is tha
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