Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-06-23
AfsADsSC1N> >&2UND
ARABIAN N1d1TS
BY O. HENRY.
Z t@O

II
|"O Carson Chalmers, In his apart
ment near the square, Phillips
brought the evening mail. Be-
! sides the routine correspond
tnce, there We're two items bearing
The same foreign postmark.
One Of the incoming parcels contain
ed a photograph of woman. The 9TH
rr contained an interminable letter,
over which Chalmers hung, absorbed,
for long time. The letter was from
nnother woman, and 1t contained pol.
soued barbs sweetly dipped in honey
and feathered with innuendoes con-
cerning the photographed woman.
Chalmers tore this letter into thou
sand bits and began to wear out his
expensive rug by strlding back and
forth upon it. Thus an animal from
the jungle acts when 1t is Gagged, and
thus a Gagged man acts when he Is
housed in jungle Of doubt
BY and by the restless mood was
overcome. The rug was not an en-
chanted one. For sixteen feet he could
travel along it. Three thousand miles
was beyond its power to aid.
Phillips appeared. He never entered.
He invariably appeared, like well
oiled genie.
Twill you dine here, sir, or out?" he
asked.
Here" said Chalmers, "and In half
an hour" He listened glumly to the
January blasts making an aeolian
trombone of the empty street.
wait" be said to the disappearing
genie. "As l came home across the
end Of the square ! saw many men
standing there in rows. There was
one mounted upon something, talking.
Why do these men stand In rows, and
why are they there"
"They are homeless men, SIR" said
Phillips. "The man standing on the box
tries to get lodging for them for the
night. People come around to listen
and give him money. Then he sends
as many as the money will pay for to
some lodging house. That is why they
stand in rows. They get sent to bed in
order as they come"
by the time dinner is served" said
| Chalmers, "have one Of those men
here. He will dine with me-"
"W-w-which"- began Phillips, STAN
mering for the first time during his
service.
Choose one at random" said Chal-
mers. "You might see that he is rea-
sonably sober, and certain amount of
cleanliness will not be held against
him. That Is all"
1t was an unusual thing for Carson
Chalmers to play the caliph. but on
that night he felt the inefficacy Of con-
ventional antidotes to melancholy.
Something wanton and egregious.
something high favored and Arabian,
he must have to tighten his mood.
On the half hour Phillips had finished
his duties as slave of the lamp. The
walters from the restaurant below had
whisked aloft the delectable dinner
The dining table. laid for two. glowed
cheerily in the glow Of the pink shaded
| candles.
And now Phillips, as though he ush,
cred cardnal-or held In charge q
burglar-w waited in the shivering guest
who had been hailed from the line OF
mendlcant lodgers.
1t is a common thing to call such
men wrecks. Ii the comparison be
used here it is the specific one of a
derelict come to grief through fire
Even yet some tlickering combustion
illuminated the drifting hulk. His face
and hands had been recently washed, q
rite Insisted upon by Phillips as a me-
mortal to the slaughtered conventions
In the candlelight he stood. flaw in
the decorous fittings Of the apartment
His face was sickly white. covered