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Show ' DRAWBACKS OF A BLACK EYE. . It Inspires Humor and Brings Varied Mil ery Upon Its Owner. Unfortunate indeed is the lot of the joung man with a black eye. In addi- tion to the fact that it ia black and will prevent hi3 appearance in respectable society for a time are the many explanations expla-nations which he has to invent for the curious who want to know how he- got it. Then he-has to stand no end of bantering, ban-tering, insinuating smiles, hypocritical sympathy and the stares of men, women wom-en and children wherever he goes. The young man in this case got hi3 black eye in the manner in which the general publio believes 999 out of 1,000 black eyes are received that is, from the fist of another young man delivered straight out from the shoulder. At the time he received it there was no means of relief at hand, and he was in no condition con-dition to seek it after receiving the blow that began a new course in astronomy for him. So he went home and contented content-ed himself with applying heated cloths to it for the rest of the night He lived in a boarding house, and when he went down to breakfast in the morning he wore a handkerchief bound tightly around his head, so as to conceal the black eye. This did not prevent the boarders from inquiring in unison: "Where did you get the black eye?" The young man flushed crimson, and as he looked around the grinning crowd he saw that he would have to tell a pretty straight story. "I don't know whether it's black or not," he stammered, "although it feels as if it was. You see, I got in late last night and in the darkness stumbled against the hatrack. I didn't like to wake anybody up and just put some hot water on' it." "Why didn't you hit the hatrack first?" asked one of the skeptics. "I tried to, but" "The scoundrel got the drop on you, " put in anothee boarder. "Well, he did, but" "I suppose he's got a pair of em, eh?" . "Well, there's no use denying it, fellows," whispered the young man. "I did have a run in with a gang, but they were five to one, and after I had knocked three of them down the other two got at me, and that ended it Say, what's good to take it right away?" "Let's see it, " demanded the boarders, board-ers, and the young man was forced to undo the bandage. He disclosed a swollen swol-len mass of flesh on the right side of the face, which rivaled a Thanksgiving football foot-ball field for coloring. In the center a guilty little pupil of an eye flashed, surrounded sur-rounded by the crimson of Harvard. Shading off on the cheek was the orange, surmounted by black, emblematic of Princeton, while the blue of Yale was predominant "A symposium of college colors," cried one of the boarders. Suggestions for relief were then in order. "Try a piece of raw beef, " was one. "Or a raw oyster," was another. "Pot water and extract of witch hazel." ha-zel." "Epsom salts and hot water will take the bloodshot out of the eye. " "Have it painted. " -- "No, have it cut with a razor and let it bleed." "Get a leech." . The young man carefully noted all the suggestions, and as a discussion irose about the most efficacious remedy decided to visit a black eye doctor. After Aft-er all the boarders had gone he bandaged bandag-ed up his eye and went in search of one. "Now, if you had only come to me as soon as you got it I could have removed re-moved it in an hour and a half," said the black eye specialist, "or if you had come within 24 hours afterward I might have had a better chance of removing it As it is, it will take a week." The young man had his eye washed and bathed for a couple of hours with hot water and other lotions and declared that he felt better. The swelling was reduced somewhat, and he thought that with the help of a little flesh paint and Chinese white he could face his best girl that evening. Surely, he thought, she would believe any story he told about it But she was as skeptical as the rest, and after listening to his plaintive plain-tive story about his encounter with the hatrack said: "Now, really, Charles, who did it?" New York Sun. |