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Text 10
LOST ON DRESS PARADE

O. Henry

Mr. Towers Chandler was pressing his evening suit in his hall
1
bed-room. One iron was heating on a small gas stove; the other was
being pushed vigorously back and forth to make the desirable crease
that would be seen later on extending in straight lines from Mr.
Chandler's patent leather shoes to the edge of his low-cut vest. So
much of the hero's toilet may be entrusted to our confidence. The
remainder may be guessed by those whom genteel poverty has driven
to ignoble expedient. Our next view of him shall be as he descends
the steps of his lodging-house immaculately and correctly clothed;
calm, assured, handsome — in appearance the typical New York
young club man setting out, slightly bored, to inaugurate the
pleasures of the evening.
Chandler's honorarium was $ 18 per week. He was employed in
the office of an architect. He was twenty-two years old; he considered
architecture to be truly an art; and he honestly believed — though he
would not have dared to admit it in New York — that the Flatiron
2
Building was inferior in design to the great cathedral in Milan.
Out of each week's earnings Chandler set aside $ 1. At the end
of each ten weeks with the extra capital thus accumulated he
purchased one gentleman's evening from the bargain counter of stingy
old Father Time. He arrayed himself in the regalia of millionaires and
presidents; he took himself to the quarter where life is brightest and
showiest, and there dined with taste and luxury. With ten dollars a
man may, for a few hours, play the wealthy idler to perfection. The
sum is ample for a well considered meal, a bottle bearing a
respectable label, commensurate tips, a smoke, cab fare, and the
ordinary etceteras.
This one delectable evening culled from each dull seventy was
to Chandler a source of renascent bliss. To the society bud comes but
3
one debut , it stands alone sweet in her memory when her hair has

1
hall bedroom (Am.): a one-room apartment
2
the Flatiron Building: a house on Broadway, the father of skyscrapers,
built in 1902
3
debut (Fr.): the first appearance in society, or on the stage