Harper's Young People, October 17, 1882 / An Illustrated Weekly

by Various

This Johnny used for a pattern, and from a piece of white paper had made two collars, which had the merit of being clean, even if they did not fit as well as they might have done. They were rather high in the back and low in front, with a decided tendency to wrinkle; but those little defects Johnny was certain would not be noticed in the general beauty of the whole.

Jimmy's coat, which he had borrowed from Tom Dowling for this special occasion, had originally been brown, trimmed with fur, and many sizes too large for him. In the years that had passed since it was new it had not grown smaller, but the color had departed from it, and what had once been fur now looked like strips of very poor leather. But Jimmy was perfectly satisfied with it, since it was large enough to enable him to conceal the lack of vest, and short enough to leave fully three inches of his linen trousers exposed to view.

He wore a felt hat with an abundance of brim and a sad deficiency of crown, while his neck-tie was a modest and unassuming one, with alternate red and yellow stripes about an inch wide. With the exception, perhaps, of his coat, it was in his shoes that he took the greatest pride. It is true that there were several holes in them, but he had blackened them and his feet so skillfully that an ordinarily careless glance would have failed to show that they were other than whole.

While Jimmy believed that he looked thoroughly genteel, he freely admitted that Johnny would have carried away the prize for fashionable attire had any been offered. Not because his clothes were any more expensive than were his partner's, but because it might be said they were more seasonable.

Johnny was clothed entirely in brown linen. Mother Brown had on hand a suit belonging to her son, who had inadvertently left it at home when he ran away to sea, and this she sold to Johnny for thirty cents, to be paid in ten weekly installments.

Young Brown must have been very tall, or else his clothes had been made in expectation of his growing very rapidly, for the coat, in its original condition, nearly dragged on the ground when Johnny tried it on. Mrs. Brown had remedied this defect, however, by making a fold about five inches wide across the entire garment, which both the boys thought a great improvement. The trousers had simply been cut off at the bottom, so that they were a good fit so far as length was concerned, and it was very little trouble to fold them in around the waist.

Mrs. Brown, without extra charge, had starched the garments very stiff, so that they would stand out boldly without betraying the fact that the wearer did not occupy all the space in them he might have done had he been about twice as large as he was. When Johnny had the clothes on, with a brilliant green neck-tie to enhance the effect, it must have been a prejudiced party who would not have admitted that it was a striking costume. His shoes were not blackened quite as brilliantly as were his partner's, but the reason for this apparent neglect was that, not having as many holes in them as Jimmy's had, there was no reason for quite so high a polish.

As they had anticipated, they did attract considerable attention as they walked into the City Hall Park, with so much time at their disposal that they were not obliged to hurry in order to keep their engagement. Even the men looked at them with no slight degree of interest, while the boys proved their admiration by greeting them with all kinds of criticism, some less complimentary than others. Some of the boys Johnny spoke with kindly, as if to show that even if he was magnificent, he was not proud; but others he paid no attention to whatever, giving as a reason to Jimmy that when they were dressed as they were he thought that some distinction should be made by them between the reputable newspaper merchants and those whose credit had been impaired by their own misdeeds.

Very many of their acquaintances in business knew about "their girl," and also knew of the accident she had met with, therefore they readily understood by the display of costumes that Katy was to be released from the hospital. Nearly all of them sent some message of congratulation to the black-pin girl that her recovery was complete, and one even offered to loan the boys ten cents, without other security than their word, if they were going to take "their girl" out for a good time.

Jimmy would have accepted this offer eagerly, for their funds were so limited that even the slightest addition would have been welcome; but Johnny prevented him at once by saying to the would-be lender: