The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-06-18
From Good CumTany.l
HALLOWELL'S PRETTY SISTER.
lgY SARAH q. JEwETT.

HalluwCll himself WAS my classmatc at
Harvard and is still my good friend; in
fact. hr and Jack Spencer and | have
been cIonies from the time of our fitting
out for college nj Exeter until now.
When Spencer reached the cmincucc
of being Junior he felt himself 10 be a
greater man than ever before or since
II state Of mind which am ready To say
Is not uncommon Ill members of that
class. At that time he WIS 10y far the
most grown-up looking of our st. and,
from hciug chief baseball player and
foremost III the riots and frulics of the
year before, hc seemed To blossom ont
all at once into famous ladies' man and
something of a dandy. He grew Won
deNully particular about his cravats and
boots, not Ia mention the tit uf his
clothes and color of his gloves: and that
winter of our junior wear he went To ger
mans and Ia the ASSEMBLIES and parties Of
every description. We missed Jack: for
our old cumradc, instead of showing his
former interest IN the subjects t. which
We gave oIr whole attention, showed no
satisfaction even at being Junior, seem
ing To lgnur' that conspicuous position
entirely. He affected the company Of
society men III the class ahead, who, in
consideration If his size and good man
ners, position and generosity and con-
genial taat =, treated him almost exactly
a. If he wery 4 senior. We tCasci him
numerically, and were much interested
IN TRYING Ia keep track of hls iiirtatiouS,
and managed somehow or other la get full
particulars of his behavior and experiences
ON almost every occasion, IL his annoy
ancc-tho' hC wisely concealed any feel
ing OF this kind as much rs possible.
We liked him and We miss Il him, for he
seemed 10 have Ia time nowadays f0r II
stroll or frohc IN town, and h was
almost never to be seen at any of the
private spreads sometimes gwen Of an
evening. | must add that We also
missed the entertainments which he used
To give the wear before. His room was
decorated with trophies from the ger
mans and photographs of his young lady
friends, amt thcr' were always several
notes OF invitation oStCntatiOusly dis
played on the table and mantle. At last,
when he bad a pair of slippers given him
toy one girl and a gorgeous sDfa-cushion
came from another tnCIther Of which
were made up We almost lost hope of
ever rcgaining his old interest and aifec-
tiOn for Ms. Halluwell, Jack and j hud
been Insrparablc during our sophomore
year, and Halluwcll and | grew sad and
angry 10y turns at being deserted, and
finally CAV" up Jack despairingly and
went on with our OWL fashion Of living
Jack Was us friendly as ever, and we saw
him lmorc on less, IF course, though he
bad but little time To spare for us.
Hallow"ll lived fifty or sixty miles
from Boston, III II small country town
where his family had pleasant old place
and lived III most charming fashion. His
mother was dead, and his father, younger
brother and sister had been abroad until
within Il month or two of the time of
which / write. 80 Dick had spent bis
vacations with the family of anuncle who
lived in New York. He HAD ALWAYS
spoken of our going Ia visit him, and II
was odd IL notice how much interest
Jack Spenscr manifested in CARRYING ont
the old plans, after Hallowell came home
from tn" holiday vacation bringing with
him fascinating photograph of his
sister Alice, of whom he seemed very
fond, aud had always spoken with such
enthusiasm that we had frequently
accused him of Dragging. His room
suddenly became much more interesting
TO Jack :Spcnscr, who had "A way of
lounging about III an easy chair by the
center table, where the photograph stood
IN blue velvet frame, looking nj it adj
miringly: and once he went - far as to
borrow il for a day or two. Finally when
HallOwen asked us 10 90 home with him
to spend WaslIingtOn's birthday, which
came on Monday that year, his satisfac-
ton was great: and Dick confilcd To me
that hc didn't believe SpCns"rcared any
thing for going with us, il was only be-
cause he should meet Alice
Just before tie visit, q letter came to
Dick to say that Mr.. HallOwcll and the
younger brother Tom would be away,
hut i caused IL 10 sorrow since Miss
I1allOYells presence WAS the pleasure to
which we looked forward most; and what
could be better than spending day or
two at such place as We imagined Halo
wells home to be? Fathers and Younger
brothers could he dispensed with easily.
WAS II shy fellow then and half afraid
of Young ladies, Int | also had admired
the photograph, and Miss Hallowell and
! had exchanged messages thrO' her
brothers letters 50 ii was not exactly
like meeting an utter stranger. ! must
confess that / WAS a rival to Spenser in
my elaborate preparations i'll the line of
gloves and cravats, and even went to
the length of getting new supply of
unreasUnably elegant pocket handker-
chiefs and tight new pair Of shoes; and
| anXlOu,ly asked the advice of Spenscr
and several other class authorities con-
corning the relative hecOmingncss of nv
hat or seil-skin cap. Altogether it was
one Of the most interesting and impor-
tant occasions Of my life. 1t seems at
least twenty years ago!
Behold Us at the station in Boston on
Saturday, carrying the ncatcst Of travel
ing bags, with primly rolled umbrellasl
i saw with satisfaction that INV collar
was exactly the same shape as Spenscrs.
and Dick confided that lac didn't know
which of us looked the most of n swell.
10 tell the truth, We were perfectly sat
isficd with ourselves. IL seemed odd
that Dick should appear so unconccrped
and act i'll matter Of-fact way; but then
one must remember that il was his own
sister, after all, whom we were to see.
and We rather piticd him for losing So
much. We felt that he missed "a great
deal; other peoples sisters are always 80
much nicer than ones owni
II was nearly evening when We reached
our stOPping-place, and we were to have
drive Of two or thrce miles. A man was
waiting with Il handsome double sleigh
and pair Of horses, and Dick took the
rcins with an air of delight. l felt a
little ahaky as we neared the house, and
as if | had left behind something impor.
tant, and ut last / settled down into a
horrible dread that had left all my new
collars in drawer at college. could
Hcc that Jack Sponsors thoughts were
with Mis-, Hallowell, but being more ac.
cuSt"mni TO society il evidently caused
him no feeling of embarrassment. and
he was probably sure Of making good
impression. The house looked imnos,
ing, a. We drove up the avenue and
there was a bright light shining ont
across the snow from the parlor window,
where the shutters had not been drawn
and big dog bounced down the steps Z,
meet us as some one opened the hal
door. Dick uslercd us III politely. an,
after leaving our coats We went into
ban,lgoOnp library Ia warm OurSnlvac ~