The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-10-31
Why They Broke With Him.

holding Miss Lazenby's hand, which
she was trying to draw from his grasp.
He had Just proposed, and she didn't
seem to respond very heartily.
ooh, say YOU will accept me! Say
you will have me, lilly! You don't
know how much [ love you. ] never
loved any Other woman but you"
"Never any but me, Mr.. Busby?'
Never. never, never! You are my
first and only lover
"Why, Mr.. Busby, have heard that
you have been engaged eight times al
ready"
Eight times, darling? Eight timesl
What wicked SANDER! [ have been
engaged only five times, pledge you
my word of honor"
And didn't You love any of the
ladies' 2"
well, now, I'll explain to you how
it was. The first, you know, was Mary
McCosh. | was young then; didn't
know my own mind. After l was en-
gagged to her | used to go round to Me
Cosh's at night, and Just ms soon as l
got in the house they would want me
to help them move the piano. helped
carry that piano up stairs one night and
down stairs the next night, right
straight along for three weeks. |
thought it was mighty strange how &C.
centric they were about the situation of
the piano, and one night. when l
dropped the corner on my toe, | went
into the parlor suddenly to rest Who
should | see there but Mary. kissing
Young Ferguson. And when | pro
tested. they both laughed, and Mary
said her pa had persuaded her to
change her mind about me, and to
take Ferguson. SO | saw she didn't
love me, and | broke the engagement
ON the spot,
That was TIE first q
eyes. The next was Henrietta Pea
body. ! think Henrietta was fond of
me. But she said one evening that
her mother was resolutcly opposed to Il
man with light hair. | offered to dye
mine, but Hcnrietta's mother said that
she hated it worse when it vas dyed
than when it was light. l told her |
would think what | could do, and l
went home to reflect. When ] called
next day they wouldn't let me in; so |
wrote to Henrietta to say that our en-
gugement was at an end. Subsequent
ly she married man named Johnson,
in the stove business"
"And who was the third ?'
The third? Let me see? Why, the
third was Julia Dobson. You've met
her. l think? | was deceived in Julia
Dobson. Alterwe' Il been engaged only
three lays she told me she'd had an
awful dream about me. SAID she
dreamed that was a tattoooed Cauni-
bal. with wings, and that broke into the
house one night and after flying from
the hat-rach to the upstairs entry, and
from there t. the garnet, | came down
and ate her ma, and her pa, aud her
Aunt Louisa, and the twins, and the
c0lored girl. She said that the dream
haunted her; she couldn't get rid of it.
| asked her if she didn't think il little
unreasonable 30 dream that | ate the
colorcd girl, and she said she couldn't
help it; the bad impression Wa, Just the
same. She could not bear the idea of
marrying a man whom she would never
see without thinking of that canuibal
with wings, so | broke of that engage
ment, too. Hanged if | believe Julia
Dobson ever really loved me-
"Who did you say then one was;'
Lets see; McCosh, Peabody, Dob
son-Dobson-oh yes. The next was
BERTHE Magruder | never knew ex-
actly what to make of that girl She
declared that She was fond of me, bat
she insisted that | ought to help her
and her mother with the house clean
ing. So for the first three days after
we were engaged | was washing win
dows scrubbing floors, and MASKING
my fingers with the tack-hammer, try
ing to put down carpets. 1t struck me
as a mighty queer way for girl to eX-
press her tender feelings for "A man:
but they were peculiar family. One
day | stepped in a bucket of soap-suds
and upset 1t on the parlor carpet. and
old Magruder, her father, You know,
was SO mad that he said if didn't leave
the house he would pitch me out a the
window. Berthe said it would serve
me right if lie did; SO | concluded
maybe her love-light, so to speak, had
tlickered out, and | handed in my res
ignation."
GLOW about the fifth?"
ooh, that was Nancy Bannister. |
flew to her in despair, because | felt so
badly about the Magruders. / was
never really engaged 10 her. She ac-
cepted me conditionally. Said she
would have me when | made fortune.
| began boring for oil in our back yard
the next morning, but before ia got
down ten feet she sent me word that
she'd 40 ,epted another man; some kind
of an officer in the marine corps, |