Life — October 20, 1887 — page 5: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- LIFE: AN AUTUMNAL WAIL. “THO lingers yet the summer's afterglow, Grim winter's distant footsteps smite mine ear: Farewell to flowers, to breezes soft and low, Blue skies, and robin's carol clear. Oh, days of drifting snow, of gloomy sky, Of howling wind, of raven's mournful note ! Thine advent I await with grief, for I Shall have to buy an overcoat. Will Carey. MR. WILTON'S ADVENTURE, CHAPTER IV, PON Mr. Wilton’s arrival in town on the first of Octo- ber, he found that he had lost fifteen pounds! That meant approaching death ; and it struck him that it would be better for his mother's heart to break than for him to figure as a boarder in Abraham's bosom, And then—good Lord!—he hadn't thought of it be- fore—but very probably little Julia—dear little Julia! —was pining away just as bad as he was himself; perhaps worse! That settled it, and the evening saw him on his way to St. Louis, with a view to coming to an understanding with Miss Higgins, and then after that—well, the delu; * ° * * Mr. Wilton sat in the drawing-room of Casa Hig- gins with his heart banging away likaa boiler-factory. The green Brussels carpet and upholstery, the white marble mantel- piece that looked like the facade of a tomb; .the wax flowers, the bust of Lincoln and the picture of Washington Crossing the Del- aware, all tended to throw him into a condition that was closely allied to insanity. But suddenly the door opens : “Why, Mr. Wilton ! how glad am to see you! to think of you being in St. Louis! Why, you must have heard of my wedding to-morrow, and so come on! Now you did, didn't you? Oh, 1 know you did—and it was perfectly lovely, just perfectly lovely of you!” A deadly faintness seized Mr, Wilton, and only the fact of his being in a deep arm-chair saved him from rolling on to the floor. In a few moments, however, his pride came to his rescue, and making one of those superhuman nervous efforts that take ten years from a man’s life, he rallied enough to smile feebly and tell a mild little lie to the effect that he was just returning from San Francisco, where he had been on business for his father, and having met a mutual friend on the train, learned of her coming marriage ; and so, as he had a few hours to spare, he had taken the liberty of calling to offer his congratulations. Miss Higgins thought it was so kind of him ; and then, as he did not volunteer any other remarks, she fell to rambling on about her own affairs, how she had been engaged for two years, and Mr. Decker — her intended — would not wait any longer, etc., etc. And, oh, she did so wish that Mr. Wilton and Mr. Decker could meet, for she was so certain that they would like each other 40 much! And then she remembered that one of their prospective ushers had just had his nose broken in a fight, and had sent her a note in which he deeply regretted that a previous engagement would prevent him from officiating, etc., ete.; and, oh, wouldn't Mr. Wilton stay over and take his place—just to please her ? it would be so jolly ! Mr. Wilton regretted exceedingly that he must leave on the evening train ; and so after a few more rambling remarks, he bade her good-bye and managed to get himself out of the house. It was a long time before Mr. Wilton could summon energy enough to go round to the club, and when he did appear there, the look on his 215 face made Halleck's heart fairly bleed for him. ‘* Poor boy! poor boy!" he said to himself, ‘* will he get over it as most of them do, or— or—" and Halleck leaned his face against the cool window-pane, and looked up over the grimy house-tops to the bright blue sky, so far, so far away ! Roland King. IS IT AGAINST THE LAW TO WINK? HIS is a reform administration with a vengeance. A Custom-house Inspector, after twenty years’ vice, has been removed for the heinous offense of winking. The trouble was that he wunk at the operations of a smug- gling Israelite, who gave the combination away. Now, what is to be done with the smuggling Israelite ? HE Thistle's motto, * Touch Me Not,” is to be changed to “ Don’t Bet on Me.” Froutowss close upon Mrs. Cleveland's snubbing of Governor Foraker comes the astounding announcement that the President wantonly and with malice aforethought, kicked a yellow dog off the Palace Car steps on Friday. Mr. Cleveland seems to be doing his best to ruin his chances for re-election. HERE are over 7,000,000 pores in the human body, and yet we are surprised because some men are sponges. UNTAMED. Kate: Now, Loox were, 'DoLpHus, 1 WANT YER TER UNDER- STAND THAT YER CAN'T PETRUCHIO IT OVER ME IN THAT FASHION, I'M A GOIN’ TO WALK WITH ANYONE I PLEASE; AN’ IF YER DON'T LIKE IT, YER'LL HAVE TER FIND SOMEONE WHO'LL STAND BOSSIN', For I won't, There! comicbooks.com