The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1907-09-05

ly on that yellow vest. | wore ruff1ed
shirt that il took my old colored NAM
my Il whole day to iron and a blue
nccktie that made the little stars twin
kle, it was 50 brilliant. Ah, my little girl,
you can't Imagine what a swell your
daddy was when he was a youngster.
Did | ever tell you about the time l
had getting my bridal suit: | don't
believe | ever did, and this Is a most
appropriate time to reveal to you one
Of the dark chapters of my life.
There was only one tailor in our
town. and be wasn't much of Il tailor.
Besides, he had habit Of looking on
the wine. or its Missouri equivalent,
when it was most announcement for his
customers. His name was Johnson, but
it wasn't Andy. He resembled Andy
in his affection for certain brands of
corn juice, but that was as far as the
likeness Went. Well. | had given John
son pretty free range and coolies of
time in the matter Of my outfit, and l
made it Il point to call on him every
day and give kim Il mild lecture on the
evils of intcmperance, particularly
| held him up pretty well, and he was
getting along fine with the job until
the day before the great one, when an
old pal of his from Kentucky blew into
town. Then Johnson fell. and so did
my hopes. | was going home that
night. with my feet in the tall grass
and my head up in the solar system
somewhere, as happy as Il hOneybee in
jnne. when | met the tailor and the
kentuckian coming up the road. They
were arm in arm. and the Appian way
wouldn't have been wide enough for
them to navigate without butting into
the fences. They We're vainly endeav-
oring to sing We won't go home till
morning" aud knew Johnson well
enough to be satisfied that they
wouldn't, nor the next day either I'M
less | got move on myself. | changed
my mind about going home. Instead /
rounded up my best man elect, and to-
gether we started out on the trail. We
found them still undecided as to wheth-
er the north or the south side Of the
road was the better for travelling and
we persuaded them to keep in the mid
die of 1t. 1t might shock you if told
you how we did it, but you must re-
member, my dear, that we were young
and hot blooded and the situation war
ranted extreme measures. At any rate,
we thought 50, and we carried Johnson
home on the soft side OF a pine board.
Lord, what a heavy man he was. My
arms ache yet when think Of it, We
left him to the willing and active min
| istratiOns of his wife, and before he
| could get out of bed the next morning
we We're with him again. Maybe we
| didn't stay with him that day, and
| maybe We didn't watch every stitch
that his nervous fingers put into that
suit. Two or three times he tried to
| break loose, but every time we forced
| him back to work. Even at that it was
| dark and one sleeve of my coat was
emily basted in when | rushed frantical-
| ly to my room to dress | got to your
| mothers home ten minutes late, and
| all during the ceremony / was in NOR
| tai terror OF that coat sleeve pulling
out
Handing Down Advice.
| bul budl WAS Il iUuS Tune ago, sweet
heart. long time ago. and it doesn't
| interest you much no doubt because
| your dear little head is so full of your
own happiness that your daddy's by
cones pass YOU by. like the summer
wirds, unhea.d. Besides, that wasn't
what intended TO write to you about
when l sat down at this faraway desk
| There are great many things l want
TO say to you. I've learned a heap, HI
tie girl. since ! had that tussle with
Johnson forty years ago. and maybe
some Of the things I've learned may
Selp you to fnd happiness when you
have crossed over the line that sep
arates the girl from the matron. May
be it will and maybe ii won't. 1t is
hard for youth TO see with the eyes of
age, and all the wisdom of all the ages
won't alter the fact that most Of US
learn by hard experience the lessons
others would have taught us Never
theless us old fellows will keep on
handing down advice to the end of the
chapter. just hoping that perhaps a
little of 1t will stick and do some good
Now, my dear, you are going to get
married TO William Jackson Rollins
with all the frillS that | can afford ia
throw around the ceremony. That's
A man was rece ntly arrested in
| ~