Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1869-08-05
wy FILTRATION.

WI LII NJ = n =
l had plenty of beaux when was
Young. and / liked that quite too
well. However, I had heart enough
at bottom; and when Steve Lashley
asked me to marry him, in the end |
consented, though kept him in sus-
pense fearful long time first.
Neither Steve or I was rich. My
father had sufficient income to keep
his family in good style of living,
but he saved nothing, and | could
expect nothing from him when l
married. Steve had just begun to
practice medicine, and was struggling
along as young doctors must. There
was a pretty house just outside the
village that Steve and had our eyes
on long time, and / had promised
to be his wife as soon as he could call
it his own.
BY dint of such struggling and
economy as l could never haveguess-
ed, he had put by enough for the first
payment, and was plodding patiently
on toward the second and last.
l can now see what selfish crea-
ture 1 was, what wretch, indeed, to
please myself with the batteries OF
Others, while Steve was working so
faithfully for me.
That sounds as though wasn't 60
ing to marry Steve for love; but l
was. Our village was something OF
fashionable resort in the summer,
and many of the town people were
in the habit of taking boarders then.
Father had always objected to our
doing so; but this summer OF which
speak he fell in with stranger, as
he was returning from long ride
in the country, who, having shared
his buggy with him during the
homeward drive, succeeded in SO
ingratiating himself with my father
that he allowed him to board with
us.
The stranger was very much III my
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., possess
ing an eloquent pair of eyes nearly
the color of my own, and having a
propensity of saying pretty things,
that was just delicious to a girl OF my
turn, It was such fun to draw him
out and laugh at him; to pretend
pleasure, then shyness; to invite and
repulse in the same breath. 1t wasa
genuine filtration, as much so to him
as to me; but it was not harmless;
such things seldom are.
Steve came often to see me, but he
came informally, and did not often
see me alone, and he never stayed
late.
Steve's sister, Marian, and l were
intimate, and spent much time to-
gether. Poor Steve enjoyed my Wis
its to Marian better than he did see
ing me anywhere else, and l liked it
too, as much because of seeing him
as Marian. 1t was then miserable
piece of heartlessness for me to per-
NIT Mr.. Fordyce, the stranger" to
accompany me thither, thus parading
as it were, my conquest, and the ac-
complishments and attractions OF
Stevens new rival in the most disa-
greeable manner possible.
Steve was good-natured, and kept
his disappointment to himself, but
he did not like Mr.. Fordyce, and he
was quite alone in that; everybody
d. but Steve liked Mr.. Fordyce. He
was an immensely popular man in
our small community, entering as he
did with such genuine zest into all
our interests, and bearing himself
genially toward all.
When Deacon Harmon, who
lived nearest to us, lost a valuable
horse from his stable, and came over
to our house to consult about pursu-
ing the thief, Mr.. Fordyce, though
he had only just got home from
jaunt with some friends, who had
kept him most Of the night, insisted
upon being one of the pursuing party,
and indeed quite led it. 1t was the
same way when Mr.. Dudevant's
store was broken open and robbed.
Mr.. Fordycc went over and over the
ground, and gave shrewder guesses
as to how the robbery had been man
aged than any one else. When other
thefts of similar nature, and also Of
lesser degree, continued to vex and
puzzle us from time to time, 1t was
Mr.. Fordyce who insisted upon Sc
we're measures, prevailed upon the
authorities to offer large rewards for