Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-06-17

| soft light hair (halr to match the eyeS)
swept over him, and all his knighthood
was aroused. Find her he must, and
help her: but how? Never did search
seem more unpromisingly devoid of
clew.
| To advertise was, Of course, his first
thought. Found, small green pocket
book" appeared next day among the
| Personals" in the Herald, and was reit-
Grated so many times thereafter as to be-
come, as it were, permanent feature of
the paper. A singular rage for shopping
seized upon John. Every afternoon,
leaving his office early, he betook him
self to this amusement, choosing always
those shops where women were employed
| No bride elect, with a trousseau to
| buy, ever went into the business more
| determinately. Long stairs daunted him
not; he penetrated to third stories, to
| fourth, even to those mysterious top
most regions where "ladies' outftting"
| is attended to. Everywhere he ques-
| toned, Have you among your employees
| a young lady named Florence. | have
| accidentally come into possession of an
| article belonging to her which | am
anxious to return"
But no one answered the advertise
ment; and, though more than one Flor
ence turned up in the shops, they were
not the one, they had no connection with
the little green pocket-book.
SO May passed, and June and July, and
when August drew on, and the city be-
came great focus of baking walls and
evil savOrs, our friend, tough and active
as he was, began to feel the need of
change. "Flossy's" words haunted him
1.-The long, cool roll and the saoash, the
gulls diving and plunging in the spraY;"
they filed him with longing for the sea.
He resolved on vacation; and one
sultry evening, after an hours humping
on the railway and a farther jolt in a
country wagon, he found himself at
"Oriental Point" on the Long. Island
shore; a spot which had rejoiced in the
name of Clam Cove until a recent re-
christening at the hands of local specu-
completion Of the branch railroad, had
jumped forward to anticipated hotels
and crowd of metropolitan "boarders. :"
Both hotels and crowd were happily non
existent so far, and the sylvan quiet of
Clam Cove still brooded over Oriental
Point. The red farm-houses scattered
along the beach sufficed for the few
strangers who had found out the place,
and in one of these Mr.. Singleton and
his knapsack were received and well
coined with hearty country hospitality
which it was to be feared would disap-
pear with the nearer approach of the
ubiquitous steam-whistle.
Two days of basking in sun and salt,
two nights of cool freshness, made him
new man. Utterly content and utterly
lazy, he felt indisposed for everything
but to lie under the shade of rocks.
watch the water come and go, and nap
and dream
1t was on the fourth day of this oyster
like existence that he reused from a doz-
ing reverie at the sound of voices speak
ing near. Some ladies had seated them
selves just below him. One, dressed in
mourning and wrapped il a shawl,
seemed an invalid The other had dark
red-brown hair streaming down over
cool-looking white and black dress She
was reading aloud Lowelps little poem,
Sea-Weed." John caught the words
distinctly.
{ / wonder what that means exactlvsn
she said as she finished.
1T is very graceful"
eyes, but it's puzzling too-a fasci-
mating puzzle. Pm always wondering if
Mr.. Lowell, when he wrote it, meant the
same thing which ! fancy he meant. 1t
quite leases me-"
"And yet you like it so much!"
ooh, that's the very reason. | like to
be teaseu and set to thinking. Alice, are
you warm enough?"
John pricked up mis- ears. But M5s
girl has dark hair
"Thanks-yes, Pm almost warm enough.
Still, you might fetch the gray shawl,
Marion, if you don't mind"
John caught glimpse of the girls face
as she came back with the shawl, a
fresh, pleasant face, with eyes of the
same red-brown as the hair. She saw
him too, and the sisters lowered their
voices. He did not hear another word
after that.
Two days later his landlady met him
with a troubled countenance.
&c Pm so sorry" she began. cts Just
as sudden on me s on you, but my daugh-
| ter she's written that she and the chill
dren must come home for spell cause
the youngest s had cholera infanticide
and the doctor he says they must get
| away s fast S they can and it's too bad
to turn you out but don't see no other
way to fix it and if you don't mind Ell
| kins next door has room free every bit
like the one you're ID now and Almiry
shall carry over your things and you'll
be every whit as comfortable and I hope
you'll haveno hard feeling about it." All
| this in breath, and without audible
! punctuation.
John comfOrted the good dame, whose
face was full of trouble. After all, what
| did it matters Almiry" lent a hand