Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-09
THE CHAFFYNG DISH

ners, accepting and declining invitations.
specimen letters dealing with every social
emergency, such as being invited to GO to n
clambake. wedding or the dedication of
sanitary dog pound. We had an uproarious
time compiling the essay. 1t was to contain
at least fifteen thousand words and we were
to get fifty dollars for it. In the chapter on
specimen letters we let ourself go without
restraint. In these specimen letters we
amused ourself by using the names of all our
friends. We chuckled to think Of their
anazement on finding themselves ehshrined
IN this Household Encyclopedia, writing de-
mure and stilted little regrets or acceptances
for imaginary functions
The manuscript of this article had to be
mailed to Chicago on a certain date or the
fifty dollars would be forfeit. Late the night
before we toiled at our desk putting the final
touches on The Etiquette of Courtsbip and
Etlquette for Young Girls at Boarding
school. Never having been young girl at
boarding school, our ideas were largely theo-
retlcal but still we thought they were based
| on sound sense and winsome instinct as to
| comely demeanor. We threw our heart into
the task and felt that Louisa Acott herself
| could not have counseleN more becoming de-
| corum. 1t was long after midnight when we
hnlshed the last reply of young girl to the
young man who had called her by her first
| right to do so. We put these last two Sec
tions of the manuscript into a drawer of the
desk to give them final reading the next
| morning.
Late that night there came damn fog,
one OF those pearly Long Island fogs. The
desk drawer swelled up and retired from
active life. Containing its precious freight,
it was immovable. We stood the desk upside
down, we tugged frantically at it, we ham
| arol md al, lal
| The hour for mailing the copy approached,
At last, baffled, we had to speed to a mail
box and post the treatise on Etiquette with
out those two chapters. The publisher. we
| knew, would not miss them, though to us
they contained the cream of our whole
philosophy of politeness, containing our
priced aphorisms on Consideration for Others
the Basis of Good Manners.
We were never able to get that drawer
| open again. When we sold the desk to Mr.
| Z. it was still tightly stuck. Some months
ago we were passing along Arch street, Just
Under the Reading Railway viaduct, and we
saw familiar sight on the pavement 1t
was our old desk, covered with dust and dis
! played for sale, but unmistakable to our
recognitory eye. Furtively we approached it
and gave the well known bottom drawer a
yank. 1t was still jammed, and presumably
the manuscript was still within. We thoupht
for moment of buying the old thing again,
splitting it open with an ak and getting ont
our literary offspring. But we didn't. And
now this fire has come along and undoubt :
edly the desk perished in the flames. If onlv
that chapter on Young Girls at Boarding
School could have been rescued We
have a daughter of our own now, and If
might have given us some hints on how IN
bring her up.
Ambrose sends us the following, which he
received in the mail recently.
Dear Sir:
drink and machen and all OF the opatented '1n 1n
for scale cheap and | want TO btloy Won MT ~
ented at one for drink you say for seaie
cheape and want to buoy at one a nd piesse
want for you patented for drink and can yoti
| come to see me at one for want to buoy YOU
| patented at one and wright me at one piase for
how much you want for you patented for you
| say will scale cheap and wood like to buov
some mike hsd for or just out new for the
store and we want dealer and agents we want
at phase for no how much you want for
| you patented for you say will scale cheap and
| ] want to buoy at one and can You come
to me at one phase and phase wright me
Il for you patented.
In case any one should question the
validity of the above we beg to state that
Ambrose has sent us the original letter
There is a deal of pathos in the appeal, par
ticularly if Gas seems likely from the textl
Ambrose has private still for sale.
! tttl S(1&fIl ATmG