Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-02

Cities" oliver Twist" etc.).
Tom Smart was a commercial traveller,
which is to say a salesman. or, as the
word was in older days, bagman. He
put up at an inn one stormy night, as
such men frequently DO. and was par
ticu,arly pleased with his accommoda-
tons. which was more exceptional.
Now this inn was owned and operated
by buXom widow. and 1t did not please
Tom Smart at all to watch very tall
man paying court to this widow-espe-
cially since the widow rather welcomed
the mans advances. Tom Smart
thought to himself that he would not
object 10 being the proprietor of such
ar inn as this, and he also thought
that the tall man was hardly the right
person for such a place in the world
He hoped the widows taste was not
exclusively confined to tall men!
Having had several glasses of hot
punch--a tavorite of Tom's-TOm
Smart allowed himself to be conducted
to his room It was good large room,
with furniture enough for an army. but
what struck Toms fancy most was a
strange, grim-looking highback chair,
carved in the most fantastic manner,
with a ficwered damaSk cushion, and
the round knobs at the bottom of the
legs carefully tied up in red cloth, as
II it had got the govt in its toes. OF
any other queer chair, Tom would only
have thought it was a queer chair. and
there would have been an end to the
matter: but there was something about
this particular chair. and yet he
couldn't tell what it was, so odd and
unlike any other piece OF furniture h
had ever seen that it seemed to fas-
cinate him.
He sat down before the fire and
stared at the old chair all the while,
which stood with mysterious ASPECT
by the bedside II never saw such a
rum concern as that in all my days.
Very odd" said Tom. who had got
rather sage with the hot punch. very
odd" Tom shook his head with an air
of profound wisdom, and looked at the
chair again. He couldn't make any
thing of it. though so he got into bed
covered himself up warm, end fell
asleep.
In about half an hour Tom woke up
with a start, from a confused dream OF
tall men and tumbleTs of punch; ard
the first object that presented itself to
his waking imagination was the queer
chair. y,
II won't look at it any longer" said
Tom to himself. and he squeezed his
eyelids together. and tried to persuade
himself h. was going to sleep again. Nc
use: nothing but queer chairs dance
jumping over each others backs and
PLAYING all kinds of antics
Il may as well see one real chair. as
two or three complete sets of falsd
ones" said Tom, bringing out his head
from under the bedclothes. There it
was. plainly diScernible by the light CT
the fire, looking as provoking as ever.
Tom gaZed at the chair; and, sud
denly as he looked at it, a most ex-
traordinary change seemed to come
over it. IL,
The carving of the back gradually
assumed the lineaments and expression
of an old shriveled human face: the
damask cushion an antique tapped
waistcOat; the round knobs grew into a
couple of feet, incased in red cloth
slippers; and the old chair looked like
very old man. of the previous century,
with arms akimbo.
Tom sat up in bed and rubbed his
eyes to dispel the Illusion. No., The
chair was an ugly old gentleman; and
what was more. he was winking at Tom
Tom was naturally headlong, care-
less sort OF dog. and he had had five
tumblers of hot punch into the bargain.
So, although he was little startled at
first. he began to grow rather indignant
when he saw the old gentleman winking
and 1eering at him with such an ifnpu-
dent air. At length he resolved that
he wouldn't stand it: and as the old
face still kept winking away as fast as
ever. Tom said, in a very angry tone:
What the devil are you winking at
me for?" Il.
Because like it. Tom Smart" said
the chair; or the old gentleman, which,
ever you like to call him. He stopped
winking though. when Tom spoke, and
began grinning like a superannuated
monkev.
How do you know my name. old nut
cracker face?" INQUIRED Tom Smart,
rather taggered-though he pretended
to carry 1t off SO well.
Come, come. Tom" said the old
gentleman. that's not the way to adj
dress solid Spanish mahogany. Dam'me
you couldn't treat me with less respect If
I was teneered." When the old gentle
man said this, he looked SO fierce that
Tom began to be frightened.
Il didn't mean to treat you with any
diSrespect SIR" said Tom.
Well. we'll" said the old fellow, per
haps not I know everything about you,
Tom; everything. You're very poor
Tom--and you're much too fond of
punch. TC.n. And Tom, the widows a
fine Woman-remarkably fine woman
eh. Tom?"
Here the old fellow screwed up his
eyes. cooked one Of his wasted little legs.
and looked altogether so unpleasantly
amorous that Tom was quite disguised
with the levity of his behavior-at his
time of life, tool"