The Washington herald., 1914-09-27
The Mystery of the
Redhedded MaSquerader

"And here am" monologued Henry J
Mix, tucked away as proprietor Of 9
little hCk drug store like this. all because
1 once spent an evening in Brooklyn
n. Y.
IT hadn't gone that night to Brook.
lyn. n. Y. would not now be avoiding
that town and environs and going through
life afraid TO look a redheaded man in the
eyes. AS IL is l know not whether to
stay here or journey out to Terre Haute,
Ind. where the chances OF seeing anyone
that / ever saw anywhere else might be
even Iess-and between these -perplexities
that rack my poor brain ! am a morose
man.
Brooklyn" went on Henry J. Mix
after pausing to bite OF a hangnail, "is
a great place for banquets and balls and
all kinds of social outCroppings OF the
gregarious Instinct In human kind. don't
undertake to know why this Is so any
more than l can explain why a college
boy with a general debility mustache
makes the best automobile agent. l sim
ply accept the fact that Brooklyn people
are great hands to get together on a So
ciaI basis in the night season; l accept
that Just as l accept the fact that pug
dogs and spring bottom pants are no
longer the thing.
We'll, after had been working in
New York for a couple Of years, some
thing put II into my head to go 10 Brook
lyn. Ny best chum worked on news
paper in Brooklyn and he had been ha-
RAISING me for q long time to run over
and spend a day and night with him. ]
never thought of doing so, though l had
a brother living there and we had often
talked Of spending Christmas together at
his home some year. One night, however.
7 friend HnFnRr In
Brooklyn with as little thought as II I
had simply been going out TO Chicago
for a few days.
We had dinner together and talked
about the bOyhood days when his dad
ran a grocery out in Ohio and he and
rode around in the delivery wagon
discussing how TO follow the line of
least resistance in casting spells over the
fiaxen- haired maidens OF the little COM
munity. Horner even in those days had
always intended to marry some young
person whose folks could AFFORD to main
tain him in the style to which he had
been accustomed. For a time, ! recalled,
he aspired to the hand OF winsOme little
Clara Lynch. The Lynches lived down
by our leading lumber yard. As rapidly
as he could steal the lumber, old man
Lynch built on TO his home until in time
he had what by our simple standards
comprised a mansion. All might have
been we'll. but old man Lynch bought a
frock coat one day to wear to the we'd
ding Of a relative. and in order to get
the good out of il. he would often wear
II to the postofice on Sunday mornings
That coat made him feel so important
that he got all swelled on himself and
thought Bill Horner wasn't good enough
for his daughter. because Bill wasn't
above being seen with me in his fathers
grocery wagon.
But l started to tell you about my
stay with Bill in Brooklyn, y. Y. After
We had eaten right heartily of soft shell
crabs and chocolate eclairs, Bill broke
the sad news to me that he had to go
out on an assignment that evening, but
that il wouldn't take him long. He con-
fessed to me that he was probably the
best reporter on their paper, but in spite
Of that he was always getting hooked up
with some cub assignment that consisted
of an Introductory sentence or two. fol-
lowed by. the line: Among the guests
were. And then just names and names
and names.
II told him I would 80 with him to
whatever it was he had TO attend for
his paper. as l had always desired to
go about with a newspaper reporter
or plain clothes detective and see the
inside Of things. l sympathized with
him for living in a town where the big
issue at night was a charity ball under
the auspices Of the Paperhangers'
League, or a beefsteak dinner to the re-
firing board of directors of the Flat
bush Married Mems Improvement As
sociation. He said he didn't mind It so
much any more-that he had gone TO
one banquet where every guest got a
chefs cap and apron for a souvenir.
Just for n joke. he said. he put on his
and wore them out in the
back yard of his sisters home. where
he boarded, and all the neIghbors thought
his sister kept a foreign chef and thew
all began to call on her and show her
much attention. In that way she got
acquainted with some very pleasant
people and she was most grateful to Bill.
which made him feel mighty good, of
course.
We talked of these things as we
made our way to a skating rink, where
there was a big masquerade ball in
progress. 1t was this ball that Horner
was to write up for his paper. He made
me wait for him while he went TO hunt
up the chairman of the entertainment
l saw him walk away. with
Inc sang froid of a head waiter. and il
wasn't long until he was conversInE. on
. basis of perfect equality, with a man ,
wearing a gilt sword and large plumes
that must have cost him 81 or IS for
heir use If they cost him a cent.
Suddenly there walked up to me a I,
nan all incarcerated in a color scheme
IF reds and blues and Colds He looked |,
Ike Frank Daniels, but he whispered 10
ne that he was Napoleon and | didn't
him. as / supposed he knew |
Who he was. He engaged me in a con-
regarding the merit Of the
various costumes to be seen ION the
ioor, and when j praised them he grew |
iullen and taciturn. Then he started in |
ind pointed out the spectacular defects 1
n the get-ups of the different charac- !