Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-09-28
4 DUPLEX ACCEPTANCE.

Young Selvidge came of father whC
hal always looked out for himself mos
industrlously, but who, having alway.
lived in poverty-strlcken village. lef
his son little but good advice when ht
, died. His advice made up by repetition
what it lacked in quantity; it was
, simply this
"It is easier to marry money than tc
earn it."
The young man, like a dutiful son,
rolled his fathers favorite precept over
and over in his mind, and the more he
thought of it the better he liked it, fol
he could not help seeing that in his
native town of Pumpville, at least,
money was so hard to earn, that no
other way of getting it could be harder.
Most of the currency in circulation
came from the Big Perris pump factory,
and the workmen were so poorly paid
that when they came to spend part of
their scanty wages at the store III which
young Selvidge was sole clerk, they
bought in such small quantities and
hesitated so long over each purch Sc
that Selvidge had to work very hard
for his small salary.
Selvidge did not wait until his fathers
death to act upon the old gentleman's
injunction /; indeed, he began long be-
fore, with his fathers assistance, to cul,
tivate the acquaintance ofyoung women
who had money or prospects, and it
was by his fathers advice that Selvidge,
instead of learning the parental trade
of blacksmithing, had become q clerk
in village stt re, and thus placed him
self where he might frequently see the
young women of the vicinity in great
variety, without subjecting himself 70
expense or even loss of time.
AS Selvidge was not bad looking and
wore better fitting clothes than any
5 HSpaR1 " R1g Rag ods IL tAf yil!ssesa dth th
well enough, but as none of them exact
ly answered his purpose, he carefully
abstained from love-making. Many OF
the daughters of farmers and mill hauds
were buxom and pretty, and few
were clever, but on the short list In
which Selvldge had included the name
of every girl who had any money, or
could hope to have any, there was nota
name that represented five thousand
dollars, and although five thousand
dollars is not to be sneezed at, SelvIdge
had sat his heart on a much larger sum.
He had almost made up his mind to
change his base of operations and go to
New York, which the two or three
thousand dollars realized from the sale
of his fathers property would enable
him to do In fair style, when an une1.
pected chance fell In his way. Old
Perris, the sole owner of the Pumpville
pump factory, had an only daughter,
who, thanks to the laziness, luxury and
indulgence peculiar to the families OF
rich men who are rather coarse-gr grained
and vulgar, changed In single year
from a school girl In short dresses to a
full-blown young woman, who scarcely
knew what to make of the change and
had no one at home to inform her
Mrs, Perrls being an invalid whose only
treatment for any unexpected state OF
affairs was to fret at it.
SO Miss Perris, as people began to
call the young woman who u year before
had been merely little Kate, did about
as she pleased. There was no bad COM
pany Ill the village for her to fall INTO,
for her father did not allow her to as
sociate with the village people except at
school and in church, and there was no
''set" of young people who could give
evening par les Tor the sole purpose OF
dancing and Irritation. There were no
young men in the vicinity whom her
father would have allowed to visit her,
even had he realized that at fifteen
years girl may be something more than
child.
Miss Perris was, therefore, thrown
upon herself for all her diversions, and
sue sometimes grew desperate over her
inability to use up her time. She read
great many novels, selected by herself,
which increased her trouble rather than
diminished it; she drove her ponies
iuriously about the country roads, set
the family servants by the ears SO fire.
auently that they had to be changed
every month or two, dressed expensive
ly and in shocking taste, and made OF
herself the stock topic Of conversation
and joke among the mill hands and
their wives.
AS the store in which Selvidge was
clerk was the only one in the village that
kept any of the small dress goods and
little things that even the poorest women
imperatively demand, Miss Perris sud-
denly began to do great deal of shop
ping and at the same time Selvldge be-
gan to notice that Kate had ceased to be
little glrl. He hesitated long time
before adding her name TO his list of can.
didates for the position OF wife, for the
awe in which he had been taught to
holl old Perris and his money was not
easy to overcome. Gradually, how
ever, he began to notice that Miss
Perris, while discussing possible articles
OF purchase, sometimes looked more at
him than at the goods.
This was indeed unexpected luck
instead of falling in love with money
and having to labor hard for his end,
money was falling in love with him,
and doing almost all the work. Sci
yidge did not forget that it was old
Perris, and not the daughter, who had