Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1909-11-27
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PURPLE DRESS
By o. HENRY.

man. Emperors claim 1t for their espe-
cial dye. Good fellows everywhere
seek to bling 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 1t
when 1t is the fashion.
And now purple Is being worn. You
notice II on the streets. or course
other colors are quite stylish as we'll
in fact, | saw lovely thing the other
day in olive green albatross. with
triple Tapped tlounce Skirt trimmed
with insert squares Of silk. and
draped f1chu Of lace opening over
shirred vest and double puff sleeves
with a 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-"I'm going to have pur-
pie dress-a tailor made purple dress
for Thanksgiving"
"Oh, are you" said Grace, putting
away some IA gloves into the 6R4 box.
"Well, It's me for red. You see more
red on Fifth avenue. And the men all
seem to like It,"
"I like purple best" said Mazda.
"And old Schlegel has promised to
make 1t for S. It's going to be lovely.
I'm going to have n plated skirt and
n blouse coat trimmed with band OF
galloon under n white cloth collar with
two rows Of
"Sly boots" said Grace, with an edu-
Gated wink.
-"soutache braid over n surpliced
white vest. and n plated basque and
"Sly boOts-sly boots" repeated
Grace
-'plnlted gigot sleeves with drawn
velvet ribbon over an inside cuff.
What do you mean by saying thatF'
"You think Mr. Ramsay likes purple.
l heard him say yesterday he thought
some Of the dark shades Of red were
stunning"
II don't care" said Mazda. 81 prefer
purple, and them that don't like 1t can
Just take the other side Of the street"
| Which suggests the thought that,
,Ptor oil thn followars Of DurDle may
be subject to slight delusions. Dan
ger Is near when n 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 Schlegel 81 on the making
of 1t. On the day before Thanksgiv-
Ing she would have just enough to pay
the remaining 81. And then for holi-
day in n new dress. Can earth offer
anything more enchanting?
Old Bachman, the proprietor OF the
Bee Hive store, always gave Thanks
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
middle 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
i will perceive that the Bee Hive was
not a fashionable department store,
with escaators and pompadours. 1t
was almost small enough to be called
an emporium, and you could actually
go In there and get waited on and walk
out again. And always at the Thanks
giving dinners Mr.. Ramsay
Oh, bother. | should have mentioned
Mr.. Ramsay first OF all. He Is more
important than purple or green or
even the red cranberry sauce.
Mr.. Ramsay was the head clerk, and
as far as am concerned am for him.
4 He never pinched the girls arms when
he passed them In dark corners Of the
store, and when he told them stories
when business was dull and the girls
glggled and said, "Oh, pshaw" 1t
wasn't G. Bernard they meant at all.
Besides being a 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 coddllng 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 a partner, and each one Of them
knew that II she should catch him she
would knock those cranky health no
tions of his sky high before the we'd
ding cake indigestion was over.
Mr.. Ramsay was master Of cercmo-
nies at the dinners. Always they had
two Italians In to play n violin and
harp and had 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.