Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-08-25
sElER
PURPLE DRESS
BY o. HENRY.

BY o. HENRY.
copyright. 1906. by the 8. 9. Mcclure Col
VWYE are to consider the shade
| WV known as purple. 1t Is
| W color justly in repute among
| the sons and daughters OF
man. Emperors claim 1t for their espe-
cial dye. Good fellows everywhere
seek to bring their noses to the genial
hue that follows the commingling OF
the red and blue. We say Of princes
that they are born to the purple. and
no doubt they are, for the collie tinges
their faces with the royal tint equally
with the snub nosed countenance Of a
woodchopper's brat. All women love It
when 1t is the fashion.
And now uurple is being worn. You
notice it on the streets. OF course
other colors are quite stylish as we'll
| in fact, saw lovely thing the other
day in olive green albatross, with
triple Tapped founce skirt trimmed
| with insert squares Of silk, and
iraped fichu of lace opening over q
shirred vest and double puff sleeves
with lace band holding two gathered
frills-but you see lots Of purple too.
Oh, yes, you do; just take walk down
Twenty third street any afternoon.
Therefore Maida-the girl with the
big brown eyes and cinnamon colored
hair in the Bee Hive store-said to
Grace-the girl with the rhinestone
brooch and peppermint pepsin flavor to
her speech-"rm going to have pur.
pie dress-a tailor made purple dress
for Thanksgiving"
"Oh, are you," said Grace, putting
away some ~ gloves into the 6k box.
"Well, it's me for red. You see more
red on Fifth avenue. And the men all
seem to like It."
81 like purple BEST" said Nadia.
"And old Schlegel has promised to
make 1t for So. It's going to be lovely.
I'm going to have plated skirt and
a blouse coat trimmed with band OF
galloon under q white cloth collar with
two rows off,
"sly bootsw said Grace. with an edu.
Gated wink.
-"soutache braid over surpliced
white vest, and plated basque and
"Sly boots-sly bootsw repeated
Grace.
-"plaited gigot sleeves with drawn
velvet ribbon over an inside cuff
What do you mean by saying that"
you think Mr.. Ramsay likes purple
I heard him say yesterday he thought
some of the dark shades Of red were
stunning"
81 don't care" said Mazda. 81 prefer
purple, and them that don't like 1t can
lust take the other side Of the street
Which suggests the thought that,
after all, the followers of purple may
be subject to slight delusions. Dan
ger Is near when a maiden thinks she
can wear purple regardless OF COM
plexions and opinions and when EN-
perors think their purple robes Will
wear forever.
Mazda had saved SIS after eight
months Of economy, and this had
bought the goods for the purple dress
and paid Schegel 81 on the making
Of 1t. On the day before Thanksgiv-
ing she would have just enough to pay
the reulaining 81. And then for holi-
day in new dress! Can earth offer
anything more enchanting?
Old Bachman, the proprietor OF the
Bee Hive store. always gave Thanks
giving dinner to his employees. On
every one of the subsequent 3G4 days,
excusing Sundays, he would remind
them Of the joys Of the past banquet
and the hopes of the coming ones, thus
melting them to increased enthusiasm
In work. The dinner was given In the
store on one of the long tables In the
| mi.idie of the room. They tackled wrap
| ping paper over the front windows.
| and the turkeys and other good things
| were brought in the back way from
| The restaurant on the corner. You
| viii perceive that the Bee Hive was
not a fashionable department store,
| with escalators and pompadours. II
| w"s almost small enough to he called
| IN rn:parium, and you could actually
| 20 IN there and get waited on and walk
| ~, a:aiu And always ut the Thanks
| Il i!.s dinners Mr.. Ramsay
Oh. hather. should have mentioned
ar Ramsay first Of all. He is more
important than purple or green or
ZEN the red cranberry sance.
| M- Ramsay was the head clerk. and
| as far us am concerned am for him
He never pinched the girls arms when
lie PASSED them in dark corners Of the
| store and when he told them stories
when business was dull and the girls
gigged and said, "Oh, pshaw! 1t
wasn't G. Bernard they meant at all
Besides being q gentleman, Mr. Ram
say was queer and original In other
ways. He was health crank and be
lieved that people should never eat
anything that was good for them. He
was violently opposed to anybody be-
Ing comfortable and coming in out Of
snowstorms or wearing overshoes or
taking medicine or coddling themselves
in any way. Every one Of the ten
girls in the store had little pork chop
and fried onion dreams every night Of
becoming Mrs. Ramsay, for next year
old Bachman was going to take him In
for q partner, and each one OF them
knew that IL she should catch him she
would knock those cranky health no
tions Of his sky high before the wed
ding cake indigestion was over.
Mr.. Ramsay was master of ceremo
MES at the dinners. Always they had
two Italians In to play violin and
harp and had a little dance in the
store.
And here were two dresses being
conceived to charm Ramsay. one pur'
pie and the other red. OF course the
other eight girls were going to have
dresses, too, but they didn't count.
Very likely they'd wear some shirt
waist and black skirt affalrs-nothing
as resplendent as purple or red.
Grace had saved her money too She
was going to buy her dress ready made.
Oh, what's the use Of bothering with a
tailor? When you've got fgger It's
easy to get fit. The ready made are
intended for perfect fgger-except
have to have 'em all taken in at the
waist. The average fgger is so large
wasted.
The night before Thanksgiving came.