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Show I (jjupld arid (ratj sairs H Hs JtOJC II H pretty grny-linlrcd lady Hi 9 m I h1b'1C(1, "i l,cvcr really H I T ll,ul n f,,lr chnnce nt part Hf It JH ridge before," she said. In- HE SrOTr dleatlng her well-tilled E plate with n pathetic smile. B "I hnvc n fellow-felling," she con- H tluucd, "for that old gentleman who said that the wing of thu chicken was H doubtless the very nicest portion of all, but that he had never tasted It. When ho was young the old people wore supposed to mouopollzo It, and now that he had grown old, ho said, it had to be reserved for the young. 'My dear,' he lamented, 'I have never tasted the wing of the chicken 1' Trag- lc, wasn't it?" "It was dastardly!" Tha line-looking .whlte-raustached gcnilemen on her right hand stifled a snort of lndlgna- H "Nothing gets away from the young- stcrs of today," he growled. "I'm "v. only a bare flfty-nlnc, as you know " ma "Yes I remember you were always just Uve years ahead," the sweet-faced little lady smiled sympathetically. "Flfty-nlnc yoars, Mrs. Mcrrydew! and to judge from the attitude of the Wt young fledgelings In tills hotel, one would say I was a relic of the stone age belonged somewhere, unclassified, (with the pyramids and Ilameses II." bis genial face took on a sudden mul- berry hue; "dastardly, I repcatl You can't plead the most trivial sensation of Indigestion nowadays, even just a plain, ordinary headache, but It's put down to Incipient senility I meet It on all sides, I can tell your B "I know I know!" responded his fair listener, appreciatively. "And B, that rosy-checked girl from the ncad- cmy prefaces every other remark to B me with 'In your day I' It docs B come hard, certainly, -when one is still B In a fair state of preservation, and can Hi yet maintain ordinary conversation." B "Conversation, humph! merely the Bl last expiring efforts of a onco powerful Bj Intellect, my dear madam," quoted the Bj elderly gentleman, savagely. Bj The pretty lit t lo widow giggled out- BJ Tight at this slioeunld look very charm- BJ ing when n sinllo dispelled her natur- BJ oily penslvo expression. "Ilcally, It's n comfort to meet you again, after so Be many years," she confided, "let's go BJ over to that window scat, wheru we Bj can sympathize. I feel quite as young BJ as I did twenty-live years back und BJ younger; but there is always such an BJ unreasoning prejudice rcgnrdlng gray BJ lialr it's public opinion concerning it BJ that harrows up your soul." BJ "Gray hair Is most becoming over a BJ youthful face," put In tlio gentleman, BJ with r. gallant bow, whllo they both BJ withdrew to a friendly alcove. "Oh. BJ thank you for not saying 'still' youth- BJ full That 'still' Is such a paralyzing Bj wordl" the little lady sliuddcrcd. "They Sj might as well say: 'Mrs. M. still re- Bj tains her Intelligent expression.' It is Bj all very unnerving." Bj lie chuckled, anil moved his chair a Bj trlllo closer. "I say, this judging of nge by years BJ Is tlio most outrageous procedure over. BJ Isn't It now? I maintain that it Is BJ primitive and unworthy of our so- BJ called civilization. One might as well BJ judge by rlicumatlsm, of which babes In arms are our most prominent expo- BJ nente in these days. Why, that young H cub out yonder at tennis Is barely a HV-. Rolf-confessed twenty-four, and yet his Hjf If mamma (the stout, be-dlamonded per- Hft fcon, with three chins) is soro put to It HjV to extricate him from his considerable BK and flourishing crop of wild oats (regu- BK lar licrKe-chcstnuts they are, too, I BK believe!) My dear young friend, you BS and I might ho styled mere babes In BK the wood by rompaiison with this BK world-weury youthl And yet" the BK white mustache went upward with n BJk twist of llcrce exasperatlou "ho want- Bw cd to know what colleges they had in BK my day, and were telephones and horse BK curs Invented." BK The lady laughed so heartily that tlio BK irato speaker joined In pcrforco after BH a while. BK "I'm so glad you came," sho re- BK marked prettily; "I am getting demor- BB allied hero alone by myself, Of course BK my daughter comes at times, but then BK I an more tlian aver guilty conscious BB of my shortcomings. If I as much as BB montlou wearing my brooch or tor- BH tolso-Hhcll comb down to dinner I feol HB Hint It is almost a personal Insult to BK her, and sometimes I just long to take BH up the baby and soothe and pet him BH when ho Is hungry or fretful, but I am HH promptly Informed that the best BH grandmothers do not do It. Of course HH It Is all for my best good, for she says HH It all in love, and It hurts her more HKjfO than It docs mo (as she thinks It does). HK As for an eardrop, an eardrop is an HH anachronism! I dou't mind any of HH theso things so much, but in my little HH parlor nt home there are my pretty col- HH orcd wreaths, and that quaint shell HK' work father made, and the tidies 1 HK .worked long ago when mother was HK alive all unhyglonlc, I supposo " KB' "Unhygienic!" ejaculated her listen- HB.'. er hotly, "und I've an old red silk HE' dressing gown, recking with germs, no HH. doubt, that's been the chief prop and HH stay of my declining yearn; It's got to HH, go, of course, as torn as my folks Hp strike the place!" HHf "And the inotoes my little Emma worked when tie was til, before the last!" the sweet voice trembled a little "I can't let them go, oven If for their own sakes: 'The Lord Will Provide,' Pro-vide,' 'Welcome,' 'No Cross, No Crown I cling to them all, even if they nrs old-fashioned." Ilcr volco ended In a little sob. The elderly man cleared his throat with a mighty noise and patted the plump little hand In wordless sympathy. sym-pathy. i "Anyhov, when It comes to the old drama we're nil right 1" he ventured nt last. "Think of those good old names, and the old Mnndard shows they gave! I'lays that hurt nobody, and gave our Imaginations some small chance for exercise." ex-ercise." (A tacit but vigorous opinion of tlio modern stage vn conveyed In the repressed growl with which he concluded.) The pretty color docpenort n little In the lady's face; she looked up, smiling brightly. "I hove n certain tassel from the old museum," she said softly; "I had to hnve something." "And I have a silt cherub from one of the upper boxes," ho chuckled. "Jove!" he went on. ills voice sinking to n coutldenthil whisper, "It's good to meet some one who has things to remember! re-member! Mrs. Merrydow Anna!" he said softly, "do you ever recall a piece that answered to the name of tlio 'Carnival of Venice' or the 'Hlue Danube Dan-ube Waltzes?' " "And the 'Last Hope.' and 'The, Maiden's Prayers' and the 'Battle of Sebastopol'? Con I ever forget them, you mean? And yet, If I want them nowadays I have to steal away and lock the doors like n criminal! And what's the matter?" she broke oil suddenly as some memory of past wrongs darkened his faco for a moment. mo-ment. "Mutter?" ho echoed; "perhaps you noticed that at my parlor chat last evening nobody listened or appeared to care a straw for my modest reminiscences remin-iscences of Holmes, Longfellow, Lowell Low-ell and Emerson? I was n doddering old Imbecile to have undertaken It, of course. Everybody simply yawned until un-til the lady monologlst came on the humorist." "Humorlstl" ejaculated tho little widow, warmly. "There was nothing humorous about her except her bou-net bou-net and our ?'J0 doubtless went for that 'creation!' If that be creation, give mo chaos!" "I was a little lower than the Janitor," Jani-tor," he continued gloomily. "And the worst Is yet to come. A sweet young freshman from Yale, addressing mo as 'In your day' (why Is that Innocuous In-nocuous observation so unfailingly exasperating?) ex-asperating?) said he supposed I was acquainted with all the leading lights of the early nineteenth century? I effaced myself beforo he could ask about Washington and Lafayette,' and did I sign the Declaration of Independence. Independ-ence. It was blood-curdling?" ' The speaker mopped his brow In fevered retrospect. "But the limit was reached this morning, when some youngster offered of-fered to rend me the war headlines in tho morning papers. I made up my mind then that I wua considered in the advanced stages of paresis." "It's fearfully aging, I think to meet such things," sighed the little lady pathetically. "And then some of the old ways I simply cannot get over I don't want to try! The old hymns I lived by, and shall die by that have brought mo through so much sorrow-and sorrow-and loss; there hnve been crises I' never could have survived without the help of those old tunes" sho was weeping softly into n delicate tllm of a handcrchlef. "Never mind, dear little woman these things are our for keeps, and nobody no-body can take them away." Ills voice was full of sturdy optimism and sympathy, sym-pathy, hut it was very gentle, and a bit unstendy, too. "lis!" ho exclaimed, suddenly, sitting sit-ting up straight ns though struck by n Joyful Inspiration. "Cheer up I I can seo where wo get ahead jot thu now dispensation dis-pensation of tilings, after all! Haw! Haw! I Just happened to bethink myself my-self of some old wine, Inches deep in cobwebs, that these Infernal youngsters young-sters would glvo half their possessions to attain! The spoils are not always to the young ha! ha! great Joke, Isn't It, er, my dear?" Milady dried her eyes and smiled faintly at his new-found exuberance of spirits. "I have some almost priceless old laces, and some china such as those rosy maidens have never even dreamed of in their philosophy," sho nlllrmed, "and u highboy and sideboard that ure worth their weight In gold, and some andirons you remember thoso andirons an-dirons of mother's, don't you, Stephen?" Ste-phen?" She blushed slightly us sho spoke It had been a quarter of u century cen-tury since sho hud called him Stephen. "And possibly you forgot tho waffles waf-fles I made you onu day " "Wailles! say no more! I may bo n past, u pluperfect, but there are some memories that tell me I have uot lived In vain!" "That soup to-night," ho interrupted, breathlessly, "Mrs. Merrydew Anna I didn't It seem to you that It lacked a faint touch of something something Impalpable, Inexpressible, soul-sutlsfy-Ing almost psychological " "It did, Indeed; ulso the steak and, the croquettes! As you say, u some tlilug " "Onions!" "Onions!" Tho word burst forth from both simultaneously si-multaneously they gazed at one another an-other In speechless ecstasy. "I Just love them In everything,',' she faltered in sweet confession. . , "Everything everythlnJil Mrs.' Mer! rydnw Anna! Dearest P'' The Yale '"fledgling" who was Just entering tho door closed It softly again, and reflected that there are some things that youth does not mouopollzo after all. lloston Transcript. |