The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-06-07
Seats of the.
Naughty
Being the Gloomy Story of
a Travelling Snowman
By o. HENRY
Copyright, 1907. by the Mcclure
company


ney for to admire and for to see.
Ii chance should ever lead you near
hotel that transiently shelters some
one Of these splendid touring grandecs
/ counsel you to seek Lucullus Polk
among the republican tuft hunters thai
besieCe its entrances.
| first saw Mr. Polk coming down
the steps of the botel at which sojourn-
ed his highness the gaekwar of Baro-
da, most enlightened OF the Mahratta
princes, who of late ate bread and salt
in our metropolis of the occident.
Lucullus moved rapidly as though
propelled by some potent moral force
that imminently threatened TO become
physical. Behind him closely follow
ed the impetus-a hotel detective.
Safe on the sidewalk, Lucullus Polk
turned and shook n freckled fist at the
caravansary, and, to my joy. he began
to breathe deep tnvective in strange
words:
Rides in howdahs, does he?" he
cried loudly and sneeringly. rides
on elephants in howdahs and calls
himself prince! Kings-yahi Comes
over here and talks horse till you
would think he was a president and
then goes home and rides in a private
dining room strapped on to an ele-
phant!
murmured few words of sympa
thy,
THE last one / sold" continued the
displeased one, was to that three
horse tailed Turkish pasha that came
he paid for it, easy"
AS soon as Lucullus Polk got cool
enough l picked him up, and with no
greater effort than you would employ
in persuading q drowning man to
clutch straw, l inveigled him into
accompanying me to cool corner IN a
dim cafe.
And it came to pass that men serv-
ants set before us brewage, and Lucul-
lus Polk spake unto me, relating the
wherefores of his beleaguering the
antechambers of the princes of the
earth.
"Did you ever hear of the S. A. and
A. p. railroad in Texas? Well, that
don't stand for Samaritan Actors Aid
Philanthropy. l was down that way
managing a summer bunch Of the gum
and syntax chewers that play the
idlewild parks In the western ham
lets. OF course we went to pieces
when the soubrette ran away with a
prominent barber of Beeville. l don't
know what became of the rest of the
company. / believe there were some
salaries due, and the last l saw of the
troupe was when l told them that 43
cents was all the treasury contained
say never saw any Of them after
that, but heard them for about TWEEN
ty minutes. didn't have time to look
back. But after dark I came out of
the woods and struck the s. A. and
A. p. agent for means of transporta-
tion. He at once extended to me the
courtesles of the entire railroad, kind.
ly warning me, however, not to get
aboard any of the rolling stock.
"About 10 the next morning l steps
of the ties into a village that calls
itself Atascosa City. bought a thirty
cent breakfast and a ten cent cigar
and stood on Main street jingllng the
three pennies in my pocket-dead
broke.
"All Of sudden, while / was stand
ing on the edge Of the wooden side
fine gold watches into the middle of
the street. One hits chunk Of mud
and sticks. The other falls hard and
files open, making a fine drizzle of lit
tie springs and screws and wheels. !
looks up for a balloon or an airshlp;
but, not seeing any, steps off the
sidewalk to investigate.
"But hear a couple Of yells and see
two men running up the street in leath
er overalls and high heeled boots and
cartwheel hats. One man is six or
eight feet high, with open plumbed
joints and a heartbroken cast OF cOun-
tenance. He picks up the watch that
has stuck In the mud The other man,
who is little, with pink hair and white
eyes. goes for the empty case and says.
Il win Then the elevated pessimist
goes down under his leather leg hol-
sters and hands a handful of twenty
dollar gold pieces 10 his albino friend.
''The little man hustles away with a
kind of Swiss movement toward jew
elry store. The heartbroken person
stoops over and takes a telescope view
of my haberdashery.
"Them's a mighty slick outfit of ha-
btliments you have got on, Mr.. Man
says he. T1l bet a hoss you never ac-
quired the right, title and interest in
and to them clothes In Atascosa City
"'WhY, no. says I, being ready
enough to exchange personalities with
this moneyed monument Of melancho-
ly. Il had this suit tailored from a spe-
cial line OF coatericks. vestures and
paintings In st. Louis. Would you
mind putting me sane says /, 'on this
watch throwing contestY
Me and George he explains, ARE
up from the ranch. having a spell OF
fun. Up to last month we owned four
sections Of watered grazing down on
the San Miguel. But along comes one