The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1881-11-17
My SKATING Story.


was In quandary, as l think you
Will ADMIT when have statea my case,
and IL was exceedingly provoking to be
conscious that l was looked upon by all
my acquaintance as the lucklest man In
town, while bore In my bosom the in
ward conviction that was the most in
volyed and bothered being in existance.
Up to month back, l suppose might,
with some show of reasonableness, have
been called lucky, for Miss Clara Alden,
the recognized belle OF the season, smiled
upon me, and the current impression
prevailed that If l would go In, I'd win.
Well, 1 did goin. That's the mischief
of it. I went in just far enough to COM
NIT myself to the contest, but, before I
had sighted the winning post, something
happened to giFe me pause. We were
at the skating rink one night, large
party OF us, Miss Alden being one of the
numoer. heT speclal escort was young
honlzed IN society just then, ana Ciara
seemed 10 Sake a marked interest," In
MIN: IL ald not concern me IN the
ieaSt 10 observe tnls, 1or slnce mad
AIJan % hsJ hod raesan @ ~ ~ 80 oomat-,Iat VII oaa
- r,HSa1f ,nnn H. tha ossnranoa thaf ,noe
,ot Of :. ;aa1o,s temnorament ~ ~ LII T I;n+andaJ Ja5
,,,attn soor 80 tap'Iar ~ Me- 49,,
p eood s;zad baort ond :, nooa- s;,ad T ha,d
and a fairly oood. sized fo,tnne and r
sincerely boneJ She would accent them
Until then and indeed after then ALWAYS
within the limits of good taste. She was
free TO receive the attentions of anv man
or woman whose society gave her pleas
ure. I think Miss Alden and I under
stood each other perfectly. We were
very old friends and the suitability of
an alliance between US had been fre-
quently suggested to each ever since we
could remember. I was quite contented
with this condition of affairs and even
supposed myself to be very happy.
Well, this night at the rink T had seen
Clara skate off with her Englishman,
and with an unperturbed spirit I was
sk1mmlng around the rink alone when,
Just behind me, heard a little scream
and little scramble and somebody fell.
The next instant, as l turned, l met
pair of imploring and beautiful eyes and
an imploring and beautiful voice cried
out:
."Oh, won't you please pick me up?"
I eagerly clasped the little hands and
drew the PROSTATE young lady to her
feet. I was just in time, for half
dozen other men had hurried to the
spot, among whom she recognized an
acquaintance. She made her bow to
me and said her "thank you" very
prettily and then she accepted the prof.
cred hand of her friend and glided
away from me. And do you know did
not like it? I felt distinctly vexed, for
YOU see she was bewitchingly lovely and
the glimpse I had of her was merely tam
talizing.
met her after that uany times. al
ways with the same man, whom I was
rather provoked to recognize as a stran-
ger. 1 now found myself always watch
ing for that one little figure, and follow
;no Il +hrou~a all the lahvrintbine maz,.s
of the snrpine crowd upon the rink. I
forgot to speak to nv acquaintances as
they passed. and. although there were
half a score of Young ladies who had a
right to expect me to Join them and con-
voy them around the rink, I skated on
alone, in utter disregard of every social
and moral OBLIGATION to that effect,
Every now and then I CHANGED upon
Miss Alden, but I felt too preoccupied
to ioin. or even to observe her especial
ly, when suddenly something occurred
that invested her with lively interest.
She had been stopping to speak to some
friends who sat without the railing look
ing on, and as she and her escort were
starting out again she suddenly came
face to face with my little beauty.
There was a CLEAN of recognition on both
faces, and then Miss Alden exclaimed
Why, Daisy, where have You
dropped fromP Who would have thought
OF seeing you, OF all people, here| :.
Ihere was rather warm greeung
between the two before Daisy explained:
have come for the winter and have
been Wanting to LOOK you up, but only
arrived Yesterday am SO giao 10 nave
met you mere.
After that l heard no more, for the
two friends Joined hands and skated OH
together. L hung about them little
way OIL, pretending to be talking to
some men who were lounging about,
and when thought my presence would
not prove an unpleasant interruption
skated toward Clara and greeted her
cordially, asking her where she had
been this long time. She saw through