Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-12-15
NUMBER so.

| There WOulIn nave Deen any ulore
room for even baby to sit down
than there was In the Black Hole OF
Calcutta. In the crowd were old men,
young men and boys. all poorly
and girls. big and little. They wore
crude, vivid colors. and more than half
of them had bright handkerchiefs tied
over their heads. They scarcely took
any notice of the first class passengers
staring down superciliously or plying
ly at their poor amusements; they
were far too much absorbed In the
dancing which was going on busily-l
can't say gayly-in the two hollow
squares. In one Of these an elderly,
pinched little man who looked almost
half witted, was monotonously scrap
ing a battered fiddle for two solemn
| couples to dance around and around
| always on the same axis. But the
other dancing salon" was more lively
There man dressed like a buffoon,
with a tall hat. lobster claw for
nose. uniform with big red flannel
epaulettes and pasteboard buttons Gov.
Grad with gold paper, was pretending
| to conduct the band And what a
band it was.
1t consisted OF four sailors. rather
sheep faced and self conscious. One
musical instrument was wooden box
rigged up with strings and Il long han
die, another was formed from cotl-
| pie Of huge soup spoons tied together
on which the player beat rhythmlcally
with smaller spoon: the third was II
poker dangling from string banged
heartily with an enormous nail as II
swung to and fro: the fourth was Il
queer homemade drum. which looked
as II 1t had been made out OF wooden
bandbox.
Somehow they contrived to coax out
music Of sort. and Il few young men
and girls were solemnly gyrat!ug to it
In way to make you giddy even To
| watch. When man thought he had
had enough or wanted to dance with
another GIRL he drG~Sed his partner
with alarming suddenuess, bowed stiff
| " without smile or word and left her
| 1t was evidently etiquette not 10 speak
10 your partner. 1t the end OF Il dance
the conductor with the lobster claw
| nose locked up to our deck. bowling
low. with his hand on his heart, and
| then ail the audience leaning over the
rail began fumbling in their pockets II
they were men or opening their purses
,r gold bags II they were women.
Down poured shower Of small silver
ana copper, little boys scrambi!ns to
pick il up and hand IL to the coE!Gctor,
who would. Mrs. Van der Whit said,
divide the money among the members
Of his quaint band.
had Il few shilliugs with ne, and
I'd been so much amused that felt
like being generous. Luckily mother
couldn't see lle and scold. took half
dozen coins -shi!ings and s!X9ences
and, wrapping them hurredly W in
half the cover torn off Il magazine |
was reading. | aimed the little parcel
to fall ut the comic conductors feet.
Generally can throw fairly straight,
for Stan took some pains with that
part of my education when | was
small girl, but just ut that Instant
some one standing next me moved,
knocked ne on the elbow and spoiled
my aim.
Instead of falling III front of Mr..
| Lobstcr-Claw, the parcel hit the ear OF
n very tall young man among the
crowd below. who had been standing
with his back TO me- He turned quick
| ". not knowing what had happened,
glanced up and caught my eyes, rs |
was looking down quite distressed.
had noticed his figure in the crush
because he lowered nearly Il head over
every one else, and had dim i'm
preston that he had good shoulders,
but seeing his face gave me n great
surprise.
1t was as different from all the rest
OF the stccrage faces as day Is from
night. and somehow it gave ne quite
shock that such Il man should be
among those others. as II something
must be wrong with the world or II
could not happen. had even 4 guilty
sort of thril., rs II | had 10 right to be
well dressed and prosperous. staring
at him and his companions as though
they were show which we others
paid to sec-daring to amuse ourselves
with the hard. strange conditions OF
their lives.
I've heard mother say that good
blood is sure to prove itself, that gem
tleman can't look like common man
even In rags. stan disputes that the-
ory with her when he isn't too lazy
and wants to bet he could so disguise
himself that she would take him for
green grocer or fishmonger, who have
the mir Of being commoner than other
men, tlink-at least in our village at
Battlemead- because they wear fat
tufts of curls frothing ont over their
foreheads FROM under their caps, which
are always plaid and made OF cloth.
Anyway. If mother Is right this man
IN the steerage must have the bluest
OF blood In his veins, for never saw
one with clearer, nojler features. And
yet. lie doesn't give the impression OF
broken down gentleman who has
gone the pace and paid for 1t by stun.
bling into the depths. thought, rs he
locked UP straight into my face that
first time (and | think stilD that no
face could be finer or more manly than
his. Brown-Geep brown il Is, like
bronze, and clean shaved mot rough
and scrubJy,. with dark gray eyes q
krew ut once they were gray because
the light struck into them trimmed
with black lashcs so long you couldn't
aelp noticing them; black eyebrows
and hair short and sleek like STAINS or
any other well gr0omed man one
peoples mouths more than anywhere
else. It's hard to define, but it's there,
and this mans mouth is the best part
of his face. unless It's the chin or per.
haps the nose, I'm not quite sure
which, though I've thought good deal
about them all, because Of the mystery
Of finding such man in such an un.
suitable place. 1t would be just the
same II you saw tall palm suddenly
shooting up In the kitchen garden and
couldn't hnd out how II had been
planted there.
fro BE Continued
The Century Plant.