The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-07-05


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 chow the
other half lives" He was no longer
the hunted and dismayed being Per-
ciyal had met in that far-off and i'm
possible Montana; but was now ur-
troubled, remembering, it is true, that
this Stunning 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 her
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
City, Denver-almost anything but
New York.
"Of course know these are rot 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 not
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, toe. their interests
and sympathies and concerns, their
fashions and-sometimes their-er-
morals. They are assuredly not New
York any more than Gobelin tapestries
and Fortuny pictures and Louis Seize
chairs are New York."
'How queerly you talk. Where is
New York, them"
Oldaker sighed thoughtfully between
two spoonfuls Of tortue verte, claire.
"Well, I suppose the truth is that
there isn't much of New York left in
New York. AS a matter of fact 1 think
it died with the old volunteer fire de-
partment. Anyway the surviving
remnant is coy. Real old New Workers
like myself-neither poor nor rich-are
swamped in these days like those pre-
historic animals whose bones we find.
There comes time when we can't
live, and deposits form over US and
we're lost to memory"
But this talk was even harder for
Miss Bines to understand than the
English speech of the Baron Ronault
de Palliac, and she turned to that noble
gentleman as the turbot with sauce
Coral was served.
The dlnlng-rOOm, it's wall wainscOt-
ed from floor to ceiling in Spanish
oak, was flooded with soft light from
the red silk dome that depended from
it's crown of gold above the table. The
laughter and talk were as little sub
dued as the scheme of the rooms. It
was an atmosphere Of prodigal and
confident Opulence. From the music
Haydn quartette, exquisitely per-
formed by finished and expensive art
lists.
"Say Higbee::" it was the oil chief
from Texas, ''see if them iddlers of
yours can't play Ma Honolulu Lulu!'"
Oldaker, wincing and turning to Miss
Bines for sympathy, heard her say:
eyes, do, Mr.. Higbee! 1 do love
those ragtime songs-and then have
them play Tell Me, Pretty Maiden,'
and the 'Intermezzo'
He groaned in anguish.
The talk ran mostly on practical af-
fairs: the current values of the great
staple commodities; why the corn crop
had been light; what wheat promised
to bring; how young Burman, of the
Chicago board Of trade, had been
pinched in his own wheat corner for
four millions up by his admir-
ing father; what beef on the hoof
commanded; how the Federal Oil COM
pany would presently own the state of
Texas.
Almost every Barbarian at the table
had made his own fortune Hardly
one but could recall early days when
he toiled on farm or in shop or forest.
herded cattle, prospected, sought ad-
venture in remote and hazardous wilds.
Tain't much like them old DAYS.
Ell, Higbee?" queried the crown prince
Of Cripple Creek-''when you and me
had to walk from Chicago to Green
Bay, Wisconsin, because we didn't
have enough shillings for stage fare?"
He gazed about him suggestively.
Corn beef and cabbage was nrettv
good then, eh?" and with sure, vigor-
GUS strokes he fell to demolishing his
filet de dinde Ia Perigueux, while a
butler reflled his glass with Chateau
Malescot, 1878.
well, it does beat the two rooms
madam and me started to keep house
in when we was married. admitted
the host. THAT was on the banks of
the Chicago river, and now we got the
Hudson fowin' right through the front
yard, you might say, right past our
own yacht landing"
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