The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-05-30
HOW HE WON.
The Struggle and Final Conquest,
of a Noble Ohio Street
Dry Goods Clerk.

\ the ndhuSOine lace OF EDWIN DOu0, as he
stood in an uneasy, half-tied-cravat atti-
tude behind the counter in Kute & Kews
palace dry goods house.
For days he had been in a silent and alb
stracted frame OF mind. Over his face
would fit clouds OF trouble which he
vainly tried to conceal. But it was no 90
They would fit, and fit often, and leave.
traces of their fitting as plainly to h.
seen as the Powered hose of Sedalia belle
when the wearer tripped along a muddy
crossing.
The question which sprang uncon-
sciOusly from the lips of the Young man
was familiar one to him. He was we'll
acquainted with it and the acquaintance
was far from agreeable.
| For several months Edwin Doud had
been devoted attache to legation COM
posed of One whose headquarters were on
Sixth street. He had been faithful in his
duties, had "stOOd off, the washerwoman
and barber innumerable times in order to-
have the sweet privilege of buckling on
Anita Wilde's skates. or dosing her with
the succulent bivalve.
His salary was small
| He toiled for Shylock.
| She did not know this; neither did she
care. Anita was girl.
The leafy springtime came; so did the
ice storm and the regret in the breasts OF q
hundred young men in this goodly city
that they had entrusted their ulsters with
their "uncle"
Ethereal mildness did not come, but the
soda fountains went into business with a
heartless vim.
So did Anita. She was girl.
1t was night. Over the quiet city dark
ness had thrown its mantle, and Edwin
Doud had once more tackled the tough
beefsteak and gulped down the infantile
| tea of his boarding house.
He lit cheap cigar and loitered out in
| the 4x7 front yard.
One sOlit, ry storm wrecked maple stood
| there in utter loneliness, its few scraggy
limbs sad reminders OF pristine beauty and
! vernal wealth.
Edwin leaned on the low fence which
fronted the yard and kept out predatory
pigs and providing bovines.
He looked as though the beefsteak was
on jamboree, but that was not the cause
of his agonized look.
Hist! He huns a dirty. 1t is soft and
low and sweet. There is a mellow light i'm
his northwest eve and nickel's worth OF
plug tobacco in the back door pocket of his
pants.
He hummed:
This was my SIM confess,
kissed her out there in the garden;
She wore an Indian dress
This was my sim confess;
If had loved her the less,
would not now-sue for pardon
This was my sim confess,
kissed her, out there in the garden.
The winged breeze caught the hum and
hummed it in soft cadences to Anita, as
she stood in a too-tight-cOrset attitude at
the window easement of her lOve-in-a-cot-
tage parlOr.
$50, he is sorry, is he?"
There was a tinge of sarcasm lin her
words, and also of paint on her cheeks.
She cared not for the kiss; hundreds of
them had been given by her and new
goods were constantly arriving and always
fresh on tap.
Edwin gave an extra touch to his spread
eagle cravat, brushed the dandruff from
his hand-me-down coat collar, and saun-
tered forth to settle the great question Of
his life.
"Shall do it ?"
He thought in an Ox-team sort of a way
over the solution. 1t was a serious ques-
ton, one involving the veal or woe OF his
whole future.
A sweet, ice-cream-if- you-please, smile
dimpled the fair face Of Anita Wilde as
she saw "Dear Edwin turn the corner just
above her flower and vine embossed cottage
home 1t also cracked the polish on her
cheeks
Tripping like sprite to the front door,
the sweet charmer gave the young man a
real, take-me- a-sOda-fOun welcome.
How cunning she was. What sparkle
there was in her early-in-the spring
lamb eyes! How beautifully wavy was
her rich, nut-brOwn hair! Beyond COM
pare was her rosy lips, and the electric
charm of this houri's manner was enough
to start the blood in lamp post if it had
any.
They fingered in the doorway. Over
them fell the subdued mellow light of a
coal oil lamp
Anita nestled close to Edwin with pure
et-let's-take-a-walk, nestle. She
was so cute, and yet so guileless! All the
darlings on that street are.
She spoke:
Glow charmingly the mOOnbeams fall
upon the dear old earth, and simmer
through tie quiet foliage to fall in silver
glory on the petals and pistils of the sweet
flowers How 1 long to commune
with nature; to lift my gaze in
reverential awe upon Arcturus and
Orion; to watch the Pleiades as they lie in
the neck of the constellation of old Taurus;
to soar away on the wings of imagination
| to the home of radiant Hesperus and from
her glittering throne look down upon this
little orbit as it wheels through space,
bearing its cargo of love and hate, of Joy
and grief, of peace and strife, of nobility
and selfishness. Oh, Edwin dear, l long
tonight for the gifted soul of some rare
poet, for my soul cries out for the PARKWAY,
the unattainable too, the beyond unreach-
able"
| Anita graduates next Thursday night.
1