The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1865-11-04
The Amateur Mechanic.
BY GEORGE ARNOLD.

Jack Crawford was very odd sort
Of fellow. lie took particular delight
in disguiyes, rumances. mysteries, and
adventures generally. Therefore h,
was continually getting into scrapes of
all kinds and. naturally enough. there
was almost always "a lady 10 the case
This made him Il little miSogamical-
a mild sort of Il woman hater. Yet for
all that. somehow he could never let the
sex alone.
a profound love of Nature aud jolly
times led Jack and myself to the pretty
village of st. Blossom, one summer. We
went to fish. to sketch, to see the seen
cry, and perhaps to drink the waters of
the springs there for. as Jack remarked
they possessed peculiarly refreshing
0uatities-when mixed with a little
coeniac.'
I he morning of the third day of our
sojourn found rs seated upon 6owery
slope, skirted by pollard willows, whose
gnarled roots were bathei by the clea,
waters of u stream that tmptied into tn,
bay. We had sought the sp1t to smoke
AZ after'breaklaSt clgar and to indulge
in quiet chat, with the beauties Of Ma
ture before our eSeS.
As is painfully apt to be the case
when two young men are together, ou'
talk was all nf women. Women =! what
an inexhaustible subject for contempla
tiun, for conversation, for writing, for
pratory, for painting, for sculpture, and
for matrimony!
1T is all CANNON said Jack, women
don't appreciate cultivation, intellect,
nor gooi fellowship Ali they look tm
is wealth and POSITION, even when they
are in 1--we Ii they don't fnd those
amahlc attributes, they wont love at
all, generally; aud ifa fellow hasn't got
them, he'd better let the sex alone
AS you do?
That's neither here nor there-ir
takes g'lded key to unlock their pre-
ciouS little hearts. that's So
You are sadly mistaken, Jack and
the worst of it is you know it You are
angry with the husband hunters wh"
have given ynu chase 50 long aud re
vcnse yourself by assaiIin. the entire
institution of d'mity. You are all
wrong. 4 fellow like you ynnng. rich
and-well, yes, think may say toler
ably good look ng-has NJ chance tu
see women in their true colors. The
modest ones dn not care to complete
with the designing ones, who are bound
to marry your bank account in spite OF
yourself and so play "tf their charms up
on you. al RduSednl."
But are there any artless ones who
don't want money above all things a? |
hardly think it
That's because you never find them
crowding abou' you. Only the brazan
faxed fortune hunters do that, aud the,
have accustomed you to being sought.
The really good girls require seeking
and as that isn't in your line, you never
knew how many nice women there are
in the world.
Jack started up.
I'll tell you what I'll do, cried he
flinaing his cigar'end into the stream
I'll test tie question! I'll test it here
in this very place rllisuore my mon
ey, turn mechanic, mike love to the
prettiest, proudest girl in the village
and show you that she won't have me-
on any terms. Then I'll come out in
my own character, and prove that cash
and family are puissant to accomplish
that which my requirements and char
acter can never begin to do !!
What marry her"
Not much Make her ask me to,
and laugh at her?
| confess that | hoped Jack would
not put the master to such severe test.
lie was a capital fellow, as rich in ac-
as in money and | knew
that st. Blossom contained some very
charming giris-daughters of retired
sea captains, bankers, etc., who however
much they might love a journeyman
mechanic, would see him hanged. al
most, before they would consent to mar.
ry him. AH cVatrGire, young gentle