THE UNHAPPY FATHER.
He entered the shop hurriedly. Those whom he passed at the door heard him repeating under his breath a formula which he seemed to fear might slip away and be lost. He approached the counter like one who wishes it were well over. “ I wish to get,” he said boldly, “some ribbon for a red baby.” The shop - girl’s blank stare seemed to arouse him to a sense of something lacking. “That is,” he said, “I would like some baby for a red ribbed one.” The assistant was smiling now. and four others, a shopwalker and seven customers, gathered and grinned in unison. He began again : ‘ ‘ That is—of course, you know, I mean some ribbed baby for one —that is—some red ribs for one baby—oh, hang it! Where’s the way out ?” He departed with speed. “I wonder,” said the shop-girl, thoughtfully, about an hour afterwards, “ if he could have wanted same red baby ribbon.”
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19080505.2.28
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 381, 5 May 1908, Page 4
Word count
Tapeke kupu
157THE UNHAPPY FATHER. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 381, 5 May 1908, Page 4
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Manawatu Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in