THE COURIER
CHARACTER SKETCHES.
second series.
f
At the
Station.
nd imitation Sevres or Royal Dresden vases, are apt to think sin
cerity of not so much consequence as seeming. The greatest thing
in the world is goodness. All the other virtues follow in the train
of sincerity which is the rarest thing in the world.
The lady of the house is busy selecting paper for'her homo. This
has been an especially dirty season on account of the absence of
moisture for so long a time and the quantity of soft coal smoke in
the air. The walls and ceilings of her house art blackened and
cleanliness demands fresh paper. Economy and the artistic sense
can both be satisfied in the cheaper grades of paper. Tho light,
fresh pinks and blues and grays suggest spring pastures and sum
mer clouds. Tho dark papers with muddy colors defeat their object.
They may bo clean but they do not look it. There is absorbing
interest in this selection of a new environment. The cheaper the
paper the more frequently may the experiences be repeated. When
all the humin life in the house has a new back ground of French
blues and pinks there is something to keep the mind off thoughts
of suicide in case of a failure of this year's crop.
-)(-
People arrive, breathless, eager, half an hour before
the train comes in. Here is a postman in his grey
clothes, walking up and down beside the track. Has
he come just to Bee the trains arrive? His walk in ner
vous, expectant. It is a woman he waitB for, though not a sweot
heart his clothes are not smart enough; nor his mother, nor his
sister he is too eager. When the train comes in he hastens to take
a baby from the arms of a tired woman who turns and helps s little
boy all dressed in knickerbockers of postman's grey with brass but
tons, each button embossed with the figure of a postman delivering
letters; I knew he was waiting for his wife. Even Sherlock Holmes
would think the evidence conclusive.
? -)(-
Here is a special car. They are the receivers of the Union Pacific
road. They have been from one end of the road to the other. They
walk up and down the platform. They Bay nothing and look rich.
They are a trifle pursy, their trousers are creased, their overcoats
unwrinkled, their shoes shiny. They have been across the continent
but their magician has kept them immaculate. But why do they
look so solemn? The porters and the conductors who have brought
them through are frolicking on the platform, pushing and slapping
each other and telling jokes till the idlers standing about smile in
sympathy. The conductors and porters are as fat and sleek as the
magnates and apparently without the "misery" which keeps the
poor rich mac sad.
A burst of laughter, a rustle of silk-lined dresses, an odor of roses,
and a wedding party. The bridegroom has the hunted look that a
custom of rice ana old shoes and white satin ribbon has grown on
bridegrooms' faces. Everybody but his friends is sorry for him.
Today he leaves the pack. He has been in full cry with then after
a wild-eyed bridegroom and today thay huut him. He thinks of his
former victims with remorse and hopes his friends may forget some
of the most cruel tricks which he himself has taught them for an
occasion like this. They do not spare him one. At last the train
slowly moves, and the first look of happiness comes iLto the bride
groom's face as he waves an adieu to the pack.
Sarah B. Harris.
GIsEVER CARD TRICK.
Here is a very clever trick in whist given in a letter to the London
Times.
Eight kings threatened to save nine fine ladies for one sick knave.
8K 3 10 2 7 9 o Q -t 1 C Kn
If you will go through the pack, the eight of hearts, the king of
spades, the three of diamonds, the ten of club3 and so on, keeping
to the sequence of suits until you have repeated the ab ive line four
times and used the wnole pack, you can then cut 40,000 and they
will always fall to the players as describad and in complete suits.
"77."
Dr. Humphreys' Specific "77" for grippe and colds is now on every
tongue. It will "break up" an obstinate cold that "hangs on." For
sale by all druggists.
NO.l.
HE is a prominent citizen, lives in a big house, goes in for
philosophy and political economy, and he usually wears
trousers three inches too short forliim. His political ambi
tion has soared to dizzy heights but it has invariably ran amuck
of unfavorable conditions, and dropped to tho cold, hard earth with
a thud at once dull and sickening, leaving him bruised and bellig
erant. He is a large-sized man and he bites his moustache par
ticularly when there is anything on his mind. The chinking of
coin and the rustle of paper "promises to pay" are to him familiar
sounds. He has for years handled large sums of money and the
fact that very little of it slips through his fingers is sometimes a
matter of comment. He is probably younger than sixty and cer
tainly older than forty, and incidentally is a member of the Lan
caster county bar, and his name though not as common as Smith
is one that occupies considerable spare in the Lincoln, as in most
other, directories. His habits are good, and he is above average
height.
The subject of this sketch has a marked individuality, and several
of his characteristics aro generally known. But his acquaintances
have observed two traits that seem to stand out particularly dis
tinct, and with tuese alone we have to aeal at the present time.
Unreliability. No one ever knows where to find him. He jumps
from one thing to another with startling facility. He changes his
mind as often as he changes his clothes, and he has been been
known to attempt the difficult feat of goiog in two different and
approximately opposite directions at the same time. He is as vacil
lating as a weather vane that catches tho Nebraska winds. In
business he is as changeable and unreliable as in politics; but it is
the latter field that he has made the most notable spectacular exhi -bitions
of lightning change; and his contortions have amused a
whole state. He has professed to be a republican, has affiliated
with the populists, believes in democratic and socialistic theories,
and on occasion he is a republican, a pop, a socialist, a free thinker,
a clam. He has sought office as a republican and then worked
against republican candidates. He has joined forces in a pop cam
paign with Rosewater and within a few months has broken
into a republican convention sans any genuine republican ideas.
His peculiarities have made it impossible for him to attain popular
ity in any party; but though repeatedly sat upon he still has ambi
tion. This may take him into Mr. Bryan's anticipated new party,
where his free silver views might obtain for him a momentary recog
nition. But the wheels that run his mental machinery would
speedily send him off on a tangent. He would vicillate back to one
of his former loves.
Timidity in the expression of an opinion. When asked for his
views on a subject of importance he uses a formula something like
this: "Under certain conditions it is possible that events might so
shape themselves as to make it possible that this or that might be
advisable; but everything is uncertain, and I would hardly go so
far as to say," etc, etc. Few men can talk so learnedly, (he is a man
of wide information and there is nothing the matter with his
intellect) and so long, and say so little as this agile and versatile citi
zen who, were he an Indian might appropriately be named "Man-Afraid-to-Say-What-He-Thinks."
These "sketches" are a continuation of those that appeared in
Tub Courier a year ago. They will, it is expected, be a weekly
feature of this paper as long as suitable material lasts and the
author's photographic inclination is not interfered with.
Don't Delay
It is your duty to yourself to get rid of the foul accumulation in
your blood this spring. Hood's Sarsaparilla is just the medicine
you need to purify, vitalize and enrich your bloDd. That tired feel
ing which effects nearly every o i in the spring is driven off by
Hood's Sarsaparilla, the great spring medicine and purifier.
HOOD'S PILLS become the favorite cathartic with everyone
who tries them.