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TTbe Clevh anb tbe flIMeconcdveb ftbeore
Which Deals With Various Characters.
Tho boarders at Mrs. Brown'B that
winter represented various types and
conditions of humanity. KlrBt thcro
was tho widower, who was cashier in
one of tho banks down town. Ho was
chronically pessimistic and his re
marks all savored of the sadness of this
Ufo and the uncertainty of tho life to
come. I gradually fell Into the habit
of answering his observations by a sad
and sorrowful, "How unfortunate!"
which loft nothing to bo desired on my
part of tho conversation. Indeed, so
habitual did this become with me,
that one day when he remarked that
hlB daughter was coming to dine with
him on Sunday, I murmured with my
usual sympathetic sadness, "How very
unforunato!" and did not realize my
mistako for fully a minute afterwards.
Then there was a member of the
school board, who sat on tho right
of the widower. He was a nervous lit
tle man, who handled hlB grammar as
If it wero raro china, out even the
greatest caution on his part did not
prevent an occasion breakage in me
way of "ain't" or "hatn t," when tbe
conversation becamo animated.
Next to him sat a poBtal clerk of
tragic and ferocious meln. Ho Btrodo
into tho tllning room, and his "good
morning," or "good-evening" was
enough to make ono tromble. My seat
was Just opposite but nothing ever
passed botwen us except tho salt and
tho sugar.
At tho head of tho table sat a music
teacher of uncertain ago and coquettish
mannor, but her I mortally offonded.
In tho course of one of our conversa
tions, sho remarked:
"Oh. yes; I took a course of Shake
spoah undah Doctah Smith when he
first came to teach in tho college."
"Ah," I said, trying to say the right
thing in tho right place and at the same
tlmo devote tnyscu to a refractory piece
of beef-steak, "then Doctor Smith has
been In tho College a great many years.
has he not?" Whereupon she gazed at
mo coldly, and I. perceiving tho error
of my way, remarked casually, that it
was a nice day and would she please
pass the salt.
At the other end of tho table sat an
Instructor in mathematics. To say
merely that he was "perclse" would bo
to convey an idea both inadequate and
erroneous, ho was a vorltablo walking
geometry. He wore eye-glasses which
pinched his forehead into a perpendic
ular wrinkle, and his mouth was a
straight line, he said "good-morning"
and "good-evening" as if it wero a part
of the morrow's demonstration, and
the smilo which accompanied the words
was of tho most mathematical variety.
Then he would seat himself, ad lust his
napkin with mathematical precision,
and view the sideboard opposite with
an expression in his eye which would
lead one to suspect that he was mental
ly contemplating the line AB and spec
ulating on what It might or might not
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high-grade or low-price
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And you get
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n
n
7
By Leta Stetter.
bo doing outside the circle K. Tho
"aln'ts" tfnd "haln'ts" of the school
board member wero obviously an afllc
tlon to him.
Finally there was the little pharma
cist, wno was always tlrst to come and
last to leave. Ho was an apologetic
person and was continually begging
pardon, though what for nobody knew.
"I beg pardon, ' ho would say, as ho
poured tho cream Into his coffee, and
again when he buttered his toast, but
on tho whole he was a good-natured
chap and always ready to laugh at a
Joke.
When we were all gathered around
tho board of Mrs. Drown, and when
wo wero nil more or less under the In
fluence of baklng-qowder biscuits and
plum preserves, even tho ferocious
postal clerk forgot to scowl andthe
peBelmlstic widower smiled ruefully
over at the music teacher, who tipped
hor head to ono side and asked him
whether he thought that Macbeth was
tho third murderer, or what he con
sidered the ultimate meaning of "Julius
CaeBar."
Now, you know, I am fond of the
ories, and from these observations I
had made a theory that each Individual
has something characteristic to dis
tinguish him from every othor indi
vidual, some pcisonal trait by which
ho Is marked from the crowd, and by
which one romembors him when his
face and oven his name are half forgot
ten across the years. This theory was
not strikingly original, but I was fond
of it nevertheless, and when tho clerk
came to upset It, I was hurt and dis
appointed. The school board member
first mentioned tho advent of the clerk
and his wife at dinner time, while he
was waiting for his coffee-cup to be re
filled. "I see thero's some now folks moving
in upstairs." he remarked, tilting his
knife against the edge of his plate and
reaching for the chill-sauce. The math
matlcal Instructor regarded tho tilted
knife as If be considered It a personal
grienvatKG. His own lay perclsely
across the edge of his plate, measur
ing an arc of about 15 dogrees. "In
deed!" was his only comment.
"Do you happen to know them?" in
quhed the music teacher, sweetly, as
she daintily buttered a morsel of bread.
"I beg your pardon." said the little
pharmacist, "they used to bo friends
of mine, and I know them quite well,
or used to. He's a clork down In
Smith's, and they're going to do light
housekeeping because because It's
cheaper at present. I beg pardon," he
added as he took another slice of tho
graham bread.
"Poor fellow!" ejaculated tho widow
er, dolefully, "but misfortune will be
fall the best of us, and It's useless to
try to escape thorn entirely useless.
We might just as well be reconciled.
Thero's more rain than sunshine In
..is world, and tho sooner we aro
reconciled the bettor. I've had my
sharo of trouble and I can sympathize
with those in affliction. Yes, indeed.
I've had my share of trouble." Ho
sighed deeply and helped himself to
tho potatoes. Tho postal clerk only
scowled. The gravy was Bllghtly
scorched and ho had just had a tasto
of It.
"Yes," resumed tho pharmacist, "he
is a hard-working chap, but ho hasn't
mado a very brilliant success, and I
suppose never will, no's Just ono of
those ordinary, good fellows, who go
at the same gait from Start to -finish."
At this Juncture 'the widower was
moved to remarlc upon the tragedy of
human-lifo In general, and the clerk
and his wife dropped out of the con
versation. As time went by I tried to apply my
theory to tho newcomers, and strove
with tho oarnes,tnes of an enthusiast
to dl&covor their charterlstlc traits. Birt
tho theory would not apply. To be
sure, I did not see much of them, Blnce
they never appeared at meals, but they
seomed to bo exceptionally ordinary.
The clerk himself, had eyes of the
commonest bluo and wore a horse-shoe
stick pin in his tlo. His coat had a
shiny look across the shoulders and
the high-lights on his shoes were some
times a little dim, showing thaj. he had
neglected to vlBit the bootblack. But
these things were not characteristic.
Many a clerk wears a horse-shoo stick
pin In hla tie, and lias a coat with a
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ELASTIC BOOKCASE WOTS
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7
Rudge & Guenzel Co. f
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shiny look across tho shoulders. His
wife was a little, slender woman, who
did her hair like every other woman
and smiled pleasantly If she met you In
tho hall. But they were very happy
together, all the same, so happy, In
deed, that I was led to refer to them
one day at dinner as "the young mar
ried couple up stairs."
The little pharmacist looked at me
askance. "I beg pardon," ho began,
but they have been married fifteen
years."
"Fifteen years!" I ejaculated.
"Ah," sighed the widower, "that Is
a long time. One meets with much sad
ness and sorrow In tho lapse of fifteen
years.'
So the clerk nnd1 his wife lived on
week after week in Mrs. Brown's front
rooms upstairs, and wero as happy as
married people should be, which, I take
It, Is really the highest degree of hap
piness to which any ono can hope to
attain. But otherwise IiIb was not
an edifying life. All day long he stood
behind the dry goods counter in
Smith & Smith's big store and1 meas
ured off silks and woolens, or patient
ly parleyed with ladles who came to
drlvo bargains. But at tho best tho
life of the clerk is wearisome. There
is a sameness about It which creeps
out at last Into tho face, and as time
passed the little man In Mrs. Brown's
front rooms seomed to grow more and
more ordinary and he became merely
"tho clerk," without any additional
phrase to dlBtlngilsh him from other
clerks. I was beginning to confess
that my theory was wrong, I had met
with a person who had nothing to set
him apart from other persons. I was
disappointed.
"What is tho namo of your friends
up stairs?" I asked of the pharmacist
one night at tho supper table.
"Jones,' ho replied laconically.
"Ah," said tho widower, "I onco had
a friend of that name, a very dear
friend." Ho bowed his heaiFover tho
sweet potatoes on his plate and sighed.
"But ho is dead now; he took a severe)
cold, which settled on his lungs, and
ho died. Please pass- tho popper?"
"So sad," I murmured, handing over
the requested condiment.
Tho music teacher only looked sym
pathy. Sho evidently felt that silence
was more eloquent than words.
So I became reconciled1 to tho fact
that my theory was a false ono. It
gradually gave place to other theories,
and tho clork continued to wear the
coat which was shiny across the shoul
ders and to display the horse-shoe stick
pin in his tie.
Then one evening something hap
pened. I was sitting on the porch about
supper time, and tho clerk's little wife
had gone down to tho gate to meet
him. At last he appeared around1 the
corner. How very ordinary he was.
His walk even was not different from
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everybody else's. And then when ho
saw his wife he lifted his hat to hor
reverently, courteously, as If she had
been his sweetheart. Then they came
up the walk together, she telling him
of some new wonderful thing she had
made for supper. They barely had
time to nod "Good-evening" as they
passed Into the house, and they had
been married fifteen years.
The clerk still goes backward and
forward on his daily round of duties.
Sometimes I Bee him standing behind
his counter explaining why "albatross,"
which they have In stock, Is just as
good as "shallle,' which they haven't,
or patiently waiting with the silks
spread out before him, while Mrs. Cole
tells Mrs. Black and Mrs. White about
Mrs. Addley's latest escapade. His
eyes are just tho same ordinary bluo
and his coat still has the shiny look
across the shoulders. He still wears
the horse-shoe stick pin In his tie. But
he Is no longer "The Clork," he Is now
"the man who lifts his hat to his
wife."
LETA STETTER.
Printing.
THE
IVY PRESS CO.,
125 North 12th.
DIERKS LUMBER,
& COAL CO.
Wholesale and Retail
Lumber and Coal
Manufacturers o f
Yellow Pino
General office 20 1 -202-203 Fraternity Bldg
Xrds 12$ to HO So. Eighth St.
TelephoneGen. office 120; Lumber
Y&rd 13; Coal yard 45.
Lincoln, A: Nebraska.
"NH
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