ge the programme.
When Mrs. Jipson discovered, as she vainly supposed, the prevalence of
"better sense" on the part of her husband, she was good as cranberry
tart, and flew around in the best of humor, to hurry up the event that
was to give _eclat_ to the new residence and family of the Jipsons,
slightly dim the radiance or mushroom glory of the Tannersoil family,
and create a commotion generally--above Bleecker street!

Jipson _drew_ on his employers, for a quarter's salary. The draft was
honored, of course, but it led to some _speculation_ on the part of "the
firm," as to what Jipson was up to, and whether he wasn't getting into
evil habits, and decidedly bad economy in his old age. Jipson talked,
Mrs. Jipson talked. Their almost--in fact, Mrs. J., like most ambitious
mothers, thought, _really_--marriageable daughters dreamed and talked
dinner parties for the full month, ere the great event of their lives
came duly off.

One of the seeming difficulties was who to invite--who to get to come,
and _where_ to get them! Now, originally, the Jipsons were from the
"Hills of New Hampshire, of poor but respectable" birth. Fifteen years
in the great metropolis had not created a very extensive acquaintance
among solid folks; in fact, New York society fluctuates, ebbs and flows
at such a rate, that society--such as domestic people might recognize as
unequivocally genteel--is hard to fasten to or find. But one of the Miss
Jipsons possessed an acquaintance with a Miss Somebody else, whose
brother was a young gentleman of very _distingue_ air, and who knew the
entire "ropes" of fashionable life, and people who enjoyed that sort of
existence in the gay metropolis.

Mr. Theophilus Smith, therefore, was eventually engaged. It was his, as
many others' vocation, to arrange details, command the feast, select the
company, and control the coming event. The Jipsons confined their
invitations to the few, very few genteel of the family, and even the
diminutiveness of the number invited was decimated by Mr. Smith, who was
permitted to review the parties invited.

Few domiciles--of civilian, "above Bleecker st.,"--were better
illuminated, set off and detailed than that of Jipson, on the evening of
the ever-memorable dinner. Smith had volunteered to "engage" a whole set
of silver from Tinplate & Co., who generously offer our ambitious
citizens such opportunities to splurge, for a fair consideration; while
china, porcelain, a dozen colored wai