Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Heppner gazette. (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912 | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1905)
A Question Of Caste ....By MARTHA F1SKEL Copyright, 1904, by Martha Fishel IN the florist's window a bunch of orchids of a rare green gray hue flaunted their imperial beauty in the face of a family of roses of different complexions, white tulips and yellow jonquils. Every head nodded attentively on its stem. It was evident the orchids hud something important to impart. "We've Just been bought for Ruth Delorme. She's the only American we would care to have own us," they drawled. "She's the season's beauty, which is the best we can expect in this parvenu country, where there's not a title in sight unless it's borrow ed. "We will say goodby to you all very soon. Xo doubt we'll be taken to a dinner and the opera and perhaps look in at a couple of dances. That's the life we are meant for. It's so vtupid here, ogled at through the glass by people one couldn't really know." 'Oh, how lovely! And we are so glad for you. But we wonder who will buy us." The orchids could not imagine for a moment where the little sighing whis per floated from, but after a surprised circular gaze they saw resting against the base of the Jade bowl which held iho'.n a Imu'Ji of wood violets In a goblet. O.l'eiule-d suvpr and, leveling the only the socially ie made them gasp, insolent stare which secure permit them- ?t.ils assumed scornful selves, their curve. -7. "Well, upon my word! So much for your moth eaten reputation for mod esty! If this isn't uutVrbml familiar ity, what is It? Wild, untrained crea tures v ithout a cent. "Some well meaning, badly groomed clerk will dyr.'.tle.ns take you home to his dowd of u wife," the aristocrats continued. "That will be nip if we can make her happy." And the drooped blue heads nodded wistfully. "A plebeian ambition rightly suited to your station," said the orchids. "We'll be glad to leave this place," they whispered to an American Beauty rose in a tall cut glass vase. "The society is so mixed! Think of thm daring to address us! We're not at all in the same set! Tho;e weeds are not even of the EnylLsh species or the double sort. irfegrr.- JWM arer- m m mm 1 1 c$d& I "OH, BUT, I SAr, WHAT'S THIS?" They're not even distantly connected with the Italian family. We know the Farmas well." "No: we make no claims at all," the violets replied. "We were plucked this morning on the banks of the Bronx." "The Bronx! Heavens! It sounds so bourgeois, suggestive of cheap table d botes and suburban villas!" "Oh, we know we're cheap," said the violets, stung to revolt. "Cheap? Well, rather! Twenty-fivo cents for Low many of you?" "A hundred." The orchids laughed. "And not very particular about the counting, ih'i There are only six of us, and we cost $3. Well, here's the clerk coming for us. We're off, thank heaven! Goodby, Miss Bronx." : "Fetal proud things, I'm glad they are gone," said one violet, angry dew lu its eyes. "So are we," saM the tallest Ameri can Beauty in the jar. "Far be it from me to decry f;mi!y. I'm proud of my own branch, but those orchids talk too j ii yen. we can aa cet I an arternoon nap now." They were roused by the door open ing as a man entered. lie was hand some and young, though somewhat haggard, as if from loss of sleep. If his clothes were somewhat shabby they were well cut, and he carried them with easy grace. "I like his face," said each little vio let to the other as they preened and prinked their petals while eying the stranger, who was fingering some loose change in his pocket, a quizzical smile on his lips. "You florists are a species of high way robber," he laughed to the clerk. "Have you any violets not worth their weight in gold?" "Not a violet in the place. Every one went before noon. The matinee girls just made a raid on them." The violets felt their hearts sink. "I wonder what he calls us cab bages?" murmured one of the little bunch, still sore from the orchids' taunts. The young man regarded with a du bious air the flowers heaped about so prodigally. "Oh, but. I ;-iy, what's this?" as lie caught sight of the violets that seemed to have deepened in hue in their efforts to be seen. "Oh, would you want those that is, we hardly expect to sell them to our patrons. We bought a lot of them as a sort of charity from a little lame girl In Bronxville and should probably have given them away to a footman or other servant of some customer just give them away as a grocer does a chromo with a pound of tea. If you want them a quarter will pay for the lot." When the violets saw the coin given and felt themselves lifted from the glass they breathed a sigh of content, and when the clerk, wrapping them in tissue paper, placed them In a pretty box a fragrant breath of excitement escaped them. "This must be the padded brougham the orchids spoke of to the roses. Think how we were heaped in the corner of a basket this morning! Oh, exclusiveness has its charms!" And they winked contentedly in their soft wrappings. The crackling of a wood fire for the spring day was damp was the next thing the flowers heard as they were lifted out and put in water. At first their eyes were dazed, but after a few moments they absorbed the details of the place. The big, bare studio looked ratu'.v eerie in the approaching dust, and with its half finished canvases, its wails covered with studies in glowing color, it looked more a workroom proper than a home. But it was the home of youthful, ardent and dominating dreams, and as Robert Dorset looked about it in his eyes was a blending of the enthusiasm of genius and the steadfast fixity of purpose that an nihilates all obstacles to reach a goal. "I've always felt I must succeed, even when the impolite and intrusive wolf sat grimly on my door mat," he thought "And now that Marchmont, the magnate, has just ordered his por trait I have little to fear." He walked over to where an unfin ished canvas on an easel showed a girl's charming face. "How different this winter is from last!" he mused. "Then you were my companion at the art classes, mv lit tle friend from the country, studying, oh, so faithfully, but painting so bad ly; this year the protegee of your rich aunt and chronicled in the papers as Miss Delorme, the new beauty. I can understand her ideas when she de cided you ware worth chaperoning. Ilor own girls are placed one the wife of a consumptive lord, the oher of a banker close to seventy. Now you are on the auction block, going, going, but not yet gone not yet thank heaven!" And the eyes in his pale face had the expression of a soldier in battle. "I've taken Aunt Mary's polite and unmis takable hint that I am to her an un welcome worshiper at your shrine 'no beggars or artists allowed' but I may win yet." He took a letter from his pocket It showed signs of many readings. Now, with his head thrown back as he lounged in a big chair before the fire's blaze, he read It again: u vi nutn Delorme. I "We beg your pardon," drawled the orchids after a long stare, "but did ! you come 'from Brighton's? Are we mistaken, or did we see you there to day? It's so hard to tell exactly; you lack individuality, you know." Bustling with excitement at the meeting, the violets nodded their fra grant heads. "The same," they answered bravely. "Well, of all the luck I" broke in the winged aristocrats. "But you'll be sure to make some break and queer your selves. That's one comfort." Just then Ruth entered. She was so daintily lovely in her gown of white, filmy lace. The violets were sure they saw an angel at last Her eyes were Just like themselves, they thought or as they might look if a star lurked in the heart of each. In the gloom of the flrelit room she did not see the little blue worshipers and carelessly picked up the small' en velope beside the orchlda "A small thing to secrete such weighty, apoplectic adoration," she thought, with a mutinous look, and rapidly glanced over the lines, mum bliug them half angrily: "My Dear Miss Delorme Your aunt um um given the privilege of speaking to you tonierht. You know um um I would say. Will be there at 8. You will be alone umum before we leave opera. nope you win wear tne nowers umum "JAMES ARMSTRONG wen, jeeines, sue mocKed, "come an you will. No doubt you will have fortified your usual brilliance with an extra glass for the occasion. Your burgundy blush will present the deep er hue of the plum when you get my answer. Ugh! Why can't they let me alone? The maid entered, bringing Ruth's carriage shoes, and before putting The clock struck 8, nnd a few min utes later Mr. Armstrong was an nounced. "Goodby!" cooed the violets as Ruth was leaving the room. "So sorry you're going to miss the opera. You'll be gone before we get back or we'd tell you all about it." "All about what?" snapped the or chids. "Why, the music, of course." "That shows what country things you are. No one listens to the music. It's bad form. Besides" But the violets lost the rest of the sneer as they went down on Ruth's white bosom to witness the discom fiture of the man of millions with the bibulous flush. The orchids, left alone, learned the lesson of humility hard. "We'd rather be dead than lose caste!" they groaned. "A tenement house! Horrors!" Had they been able they would have given a human shriek when the foot man, after tossing one to Ann, flung the rest into a box. In the morning as they looked at the sick child, felt her hot fingers, saw the expanse of factory roofs and clothes lines beyond the windows, they grew very blue. As the days went by they , grew bluer and bluer. But the little girl laughed as the stems were clipped every morning and they were put In fresh water. "Ain't they changed a pretty color, mother?" she said. "They look almost like violets dqw." JoHt a Hint. "John," she said softly, "have you been saying anything about me to mother lately?" "No," replied John. "Why do you ask?" "Because she said this morning that she believed you were on the eve of proposing to me. Now, I do not wish you to speak to mother when you have anything of that kind to say. Speak to me, and I'll manage the business with mother." And John said he would. Not an Episcopalian. When Bishop Codmau was appointed to the Episcopal diocese of Maine he made a tour of his diocese and hap pened to stroll Into a woodman's cot tage. Asking the woman of the houso if there were many Episcopalians around there, she replied: "Well, I don't know. They caught some wild thing out here In the woods a couple of weeks ago, If that's what you mean, but I think my husband said It was a woodchuck." Virtue may be Its own reward, but some people make a trademark of It The Kleker. " 'Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,' " quoted the young lady with a simper as she seated her self at the piano. "That may be," muttered a savage bachelor, "but there are some of us In this crowd who are civilized and de serve a little consideration." Practical. He Do you think you could love me in a cottage? She Possibly not, but I might be able to put up with you till you could make money enough to buy n lart'pr house. Detroit Frep Proos "Thia la the last ntsrht of the opra, my friend. Why don't you go? I've discover ed the ethics of Aunt Mary's campaign, and I know why you come no more. In fact, my visitors are now narrowed ex clusively to those who know the merry clip of the scissors as the coupons fall. If I'm right, let's have our vengeance. Go to the old place In the gallery tonlpht. where I've so often sat nvlth you and Ted and Mabel and will again. We can make eye notes about Melba, with the horseshoe sweeping between us. What fun to cheat Aunt Alary! She thinks, foolish woman, I'm easy to mold because I'm little; but. although I've mado no fuss over her treat ment of my old friends, I've my own way of getting my own way. I've given aunt her fling with me this wUnter to please mother, ao for the nonce I'm pleasing myself. RCTII. "Does this mean anything more than chumship? I'll find out tonight." He took pen and paper and, having written and destroyed several sheets, finally appeared fairly satisfied with one, which he kissed before folding it his eyes heavy with love. He put the note, with the Cowers, back in the box, while the violets. scenting a romance, fluttered excitedly as they were taken from the studio. On a table in a pretty boudoir on Madison square a cluster of orchids In an eastern vase and a bunch of wood violets In a small jng waited the co:r- "HE DAI1ED TO IT.' THE MAULING OH, THE DAKLINU!" them on she turned on the electric light, which revealed to Ruth the vio lets in the shadow of the orchids' vase. "Where did these come from, Ann':"' the asked. "Oil, Miss Ruth, they came while you were at dinner, not long after the orchids. I hope you'll excuse me. I quite forgot tiiem after putting them in water." "Where is the card that came with them?" the girl asked more imperious ly than she had ever before spoken. "Why, there was a note. Oh, here it is on the floor." At sight of the writing Ruth's face grew radiant. .She di.-jmissed the maid, and, with lips trembling slightly and fln-rers not ;ulte steady, she broke tlio seal and read: j "Ruth, you know all I would say to you j If I dared. Th" words 'I love you' and 'Will you marry me?" so poorly express r 11 I feel, but perhaps your own heart can put the wltchi i-y upon them. Tonight I ! will bo in the cl place la the gallery and look for my nr.swcr. If you wear these little flowers It will tell mo that I have not been a mad, rash dreamer and that you lovo me. If you do not well, Ood bless you, anyway but God help me. "ROBERT." Ruth gave a little shiver of delight as she raised the note to her lips. "He dared do it! The darling oh. the darling!" she whispered as she caught the violets to her heart "Will I marry him? Ah, will I not? And now, my dear aunt, trot out all the ellgibles you wish. I'll scan them with comfortable composure. Bob loves me loves me loves me!" Her fingers trembled as she pinned the flowers securely upon her breast. and the orchids looked at them with a furious sneer, scarcely believing their eyes. "It's rank socialism, putting you out of your place like that" they said ! spitefully. "You'd like my place, I dare say," crowed a violet from Its vantage point "What could one expect from a mere ex-art student?" they retorted. "She's not like us 'classy' people. What does she mean to do with us, I wonder?" As If In answer Ruth called In the maid. "Tell William to take these crehld to my little sick girl on East Seven teenth street, near the river; he knows the place. Say 1 11 Ik? in to see her to morrow. Tln-y will cheer her tonight J in that awful tenement" - - - The Kind You Have Always Bought, and which has been in use for over 30 years, has borne the signature of and has been made under his per- sonal supervision since its infancy All Counterfeits, Imitations and "Just-as-good" are but Experiments that triile w ith and endanger the health of Infants and Children Experience against Experiment- What is CASTORIA Castoria is a harmless substitute for Castor Oil, Pare goric, Drops and Soothing Syrups. It is Pleasant. 16 contains neither Opium, Morphine nor other Narcotic substance, its age is its guarantee. It destroys Worms and allays Feverishness. It cures Diarrhoea and Wind Colic. It relieves Teething Troubles, cures Constipation and Flatulency. It assimilates the Food, regulates the Stomach and Bowels, giving healthy and natural sleep. The Children's Panacea The Mother's Friend. GENUINE CASTORIA ALWAYS Bears the Signature of The Kind You Have Always Bought In Use For Over 30 Years. THC CENTAUR COMPANY. TT MURRAY STRICT. NEW YORK CITY. irst National Sank O. A T. A. I- OF HEPPNEFt. RHEA President I G. W. OONSEB Onsbier RHEA Vio President I E. L. FREELAND. .Assistant Uasbier Transact a General Bankinq Business. paid on Time Deposits. Four per cent. EXCHANGE ON ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD HOCulIT AM soi.l Collections tuade on all point" on reasonable term. Btirplu and undivided (trout t&l.uoo. PflLflCE HOTEL THEPPiNER, OREGON Leading Eastern Oregon Motel MODERN CONVENIENCES ELECTRIC LIGHTED . . . Under New Management. Thnrnnrjh.'y RpDOaf"(i arrt Rj-fiitre. V,ni Mrl jD the City. fKH. MtTSCOAX, Jr, Prop.