Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 April 1890 — A NEWSPAPER FROLIC: [ARTICLE]

A NEWSPAPER FROLIC:

MRS. F. M. NOWARD.

‘I maintain that a man has just as much curiosity as a woman.’ Then you are most beautifully mistaken. I wouldn’t have the curiosity in my nature that you girls have for a fortune.’ Thore was a confused chorus of ‘you hoi rid thing,’ ‘the wretch,’ and a simultaneous rush and flutter of skirts, as, with uplifted croquet mallets the daring unbeliever was put to inglorious flight. ‘We’ll show you some day whether or no, we’re right,’ called Polly Snydam, as the retreating formisho wed a clean pair of heels. ‘All right,’ came back on the breeze. ‘Who’s afraid of girls AY way. There was a spreading elm, with a rustic seat built around its massive base, near the croquet ground, and the game being finished, the girk seated themselves there for a council of war. They were as bright and intelligent a pair|as one could wish to see, and were fellow students of the expelled heretic, iu the Institute just over the way. It was no unusual thing for them to have a war of words, especially as they were members of rival societies, the K’s on the gentlemens side of the building, the C’s on the ladies side, and witty sparring and sharp hits on both sides was the regular thing on rhetorical day m the Chapel. Polly JSnydam and her chum Belle Brown, were usually the instigators if not the originators of the biting bits of sarcasm which appeared in ‘The Lancet, ) the monthly paper furnished by the C’s for rhet oricals, and it was coming to the pass that the K’s fairly dreaded the fire of wit to which they were subjected on ‘Lancet’ days, and though they returned it with interest in the Owl,’ their wit was of a broader, grosser sort which was really no match for the keener thrusts of the sharp witted girls. On the present occasion they had attacked, the young man the editor of the ‘Owl, by the way, in regard to the authorship of a certain article in his last paper, and his reply had brought on the discussion ending in his inglorious flight, and a plan was concocted under the elm to prove to him the falsity of his position, but which in its operation acted like a boomerang, and it is a doubtful question to this dey which side was hit.

‘We’ll have a practical illustration of which has most curiosity, man or woman,’ nodded Belle mysteriously, ‘and if it proves as we imagine won’t we have a laugh at his owlship?’ Several weeks after this discussion, and after it had been forgotten by Clint Babcock, the participant in it, a mvsterious article appeared in the village paper. It was in the form of a letter and read substantially as follows: # ‘Does the fugitive from justice who is masquerading in this village under the name of ‘A,’ suppose that he can escape detection? The wolf may hide in sheep’s clothing for a time as a church member and a decent member of Society, but his sin will find him out, and his villainy will be exposed.

If A., has doubts that his true character is known, let him answer. Does he remember the bloody hankerchief? Has he forgotten the fatn of the un - fortunate Miss W.? Let him be warned in time if he wishes to escape. B.’ Ihe paper had not been out an hour before the town was in a state of ferment. Never in the whole career of the DoddsvUle Banner, had it created such a sensation, and groups of men were gathr ed wound every corner and dry

goods box in town. ‘Have you seen it?’ and ‘who can it be?’ were the leading questions of the hour, and politics, religion and the market reports were neglected, in the greater interest of the mysterious gossip. Women ran across the back way to show the paper to their next neighbor, and turned pale as they thought of the horrible wretch who might be—any body. The editor of the paper was a good natured soul, who had never dreamed of the excitement the matter was going to cause, and when he emerged from his sanctum and saw the crowds of men here and there, pointing to the paragraph in the paper with flushed faces and excited gesticulations, his editorial soul turned pale with in him, and he dodged around a corner pursued by a chorus of questions. ‘Who is A?’ and ‘who is R?’ until he was fain to hide himself in the seclusion of his own home in a hurry. The excitement had not abated one whit when the day came for the next issue of the paper. It had been the town talk all through the week, and half a dozen prominent members of society were under suspicion. One young man in particular, a dashing fellow who had been a special favorite among the ladies, a church member and standing high in social circles, and the official board of his church, had even gone so far as to advise a church meeting for the purpose of giving him an opportunity to clear his character. Every man in town who co’d read was at the post office on publication day, and if lie did not take the paper himself, he peeped over \ his neighbor’s shoulder while he looked eagerl\ for a communication from ‘A/

There it was in cold type, hurling back K’s’ insinuations with interest, and the excitement waxed higher and higher since there were two villains to look ior instead of one. Not one of all the excited crowd were sharp enough to notice that both articles were so worded that they were mere ly insinuations without any thing really tangible about them, and so the whispering and surmises went on for another week Clint Babcock himself was under suspicion by this time, and he raged un der it like a chained tiger. ‘lf I only knew who ‘K.’ was,’ he said savagely to Belle Brown in a confidential aside, ‘l’d organize a tar and feather party for him, I’ve a great notion to punch that editor’s head into the middle of next week, as it is, confound him.’ It had been the intention of the girls who, as the reader has doubtless surmised, were at the bottom of the mystery, to l fess up,’ when they had had their little fun and the matter had reached a climax, but it had proved too serious a joke for that, and they did not even dare to taunt Clint Babcock, with the excess of manly interest and curiosity in the village.

They were in the position of a cat that has climbed a high tree and does not know how to get down, and the editor, who had seen nothing more serious than a school girls irolic in publishing the articles, was in nearly as bad a plight. Glowering looks greeted him on every side, and he was com plimented on being a fool and an ass ad libitum, as he per•sistentl refused to give away the authors of the mysterious letters, and he would not have dared for his life, lo be seen on the same side of the street with Belle Browne or Polly Sriydam, for, since he had got ten himself into the scrape, he was kindly determined that the village should not descend on the weaker femin ine heads if he could prevent it. Curiously enough, it was the unanimous conclusion that tne letters were of masculine origin, ahd every fman eyed his neighbor suspiciously, seeing in him a possible A. or 1:.,

and it was not until a third and fourth issue of the Banner appeared containing much more mildly written articles under the fateful initialsjwith an explanatory note from the editor, could the people realize that they had oeen hoaxed, and then, as by one consent, they longed to get their hands into the hair of the mischievous head which had psrpetrated the joke. ‘[believe some pesky woman’s put up that job on us,’ growled an old ba ch’lor wrath fully. ‘No, sir,’ replied his companion who had recently married t is second wife. ‘There’s only one woman in this town that’s capable of writing those letters,’ and, dropping his voice to an impressive whisper, ‘that’s my wife, and I know she didn’t do it.’ There were a few who refused to believe the editorial explanation, and persisted in thinking there was more in it than he was willing to admit. As there were only a few in the secret, the exact truth of the matter is a mystery to this day, and if sny one of the inhabitants of I) odds vi 11 e, chance to read my explanation perhaps they will recognize Belle brown and Polly Snydam, and smile at their school girl folly. They were not in a smiling humor twenty years ago, when the affair occurred, but at all events the proposition was clearly proven, that a man’s bump of curiosity is'fully as well developed as that of a woman.