mmr'm'"'mmmm"mm' 1
,,6 THE NKBRASKAN
THF TATF OF A STRING suite, our doors were ever open and we spent
' many happy hours together.
Baldwin I found to he equally as ignorant
"O we have a new roomer, a Mr. Noble" concerning the West as was his predecessor,
was one of the bon-mots in the bits of gossip "Why," said ho, "my own people think me
imparted to me by my landlady's little constantly beset by the dangers portrayed in
daughter, on my return from a week's absence lne (xmc novels, and doubtless, are daily an-
from my apartments, "lie is the funniest ticjpating the news that 1 have been scalped."
little man just sits and smokes all day, and iid 1 have ample evidence that people in the
says things about the weather that are horrid rast l0.(iay retain beliefs equally absurd,
that is, they would be, if they didn't make If h w.(s a visilation of Providence in re-
you laugh so." Very demurely this : then lai.ui()n f()r his frcquclU infractions of the
being a witching little creature and unable lhird commandment or nol, I am uable
longer to control her mirth, she broke into a lQ bul Chrislmas weck poor jack
peal of laughter. as we cae(j tnc agreeable gentleman, who
Shortly after this I called on my neighbor bore the i0flv surnamc Gf Noble, was stricken
and welcomed him to the West and to our so- witn an ailment which in its progress, though
cial circle. I found him to be a very erudite nol extremely painful, required that he re-
and entertaining young gentleman, fresh d5ne in one position, and keep perfectly
from Harvard, and notwithstanding the qu;et . aso that thc room oc kcpt extremely
knowledge and learning with which that his- warm. just how much Jack's exclamations
toric Alma Mater is said to abound, about as contributed to the latter,! leave to the imag-
tender a "tenderfoot" as ever crossed the 5nat;on 0f lhc reader, but as he was left to
Missouri. ,;s own reflections and the exercise of his
There was one thing, however, in which gifted powers the greater part of the day,
he excelled, and though it is not to be com- our coal bill did not materially increase,
mended, or ever condoned, he was so skill- Matters had progressed in this fashion for
ful so adroit, and yet so grammatically cor- a wce aml on Ncw Year's eve Baldwin and
rect in it and that was the use of language , were ti)0r0Ughlv exhausted from our
profane, that one could not but admire his nighliy viil and attendance on the suflerer,
deliver'. an(j as jack appeared to be no better and
In the course of one of our talks over an that little stove, seated just without my door
evening pipe, he informed me that he had and just within the room used as a study,
been sent out from Boston by one of its being of a particularly intractable and sell
wealthy citizens, then occupying a high ofli- assertive character, liable to lapse into a state
cial position on one of the leading trunk of frigidity at a time when heat was desired
lines, to learn the railway business ; also, that and to puff and swelter and get red all over
a college mate of his was soon to arrive at another time or do any of the obstinate
bound on the same mission. things to which stoves are addicted we were
A few days later his classmate arrived in a quandary just what to do.
and that evening I was introduced to him. It was finally agreed by all that the best
A very handsome, intelligent and well ap- expedient would be to fix the stove properly,
pearing young man of twenty-four, with a so it would draw just as desired. "Then,"
commanding figure aud a tendency to ath- said Baldwin, "you go in to bed, 'Squire,"
letics was Mr. Baldwin, and we three soon that being his favorite name for me, "and I'll
were loyal friends, and as our apartments make a 'shake down' here on the floor of the
made up the ensemble of the entire upper study, for 1 am tired enough to sleep on the