The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-10-12
THAT DUEL.
BY SMILAX.

THAT DUEL.
BY sMILAx. s1'4' '-
The small but enterprising city o.
Newcastle could boast of MANY pretty
girls, but none of them could compare
with the acknowledged belle, Miggie
Barr. Her Christian name was Maggie,
but her father always called her Miggie,
so gradually the people of our town fell
into the same habit. I could not do
justice to this young lady's many charms
and points of beauty, SO I will let you.
dear reader, imagine woman ten times
rrettier than any you ever met as true
portrait Of my heroine. -.
OF course, Miggie, being pretty and
the acknowledged belle, had many
beaux f; in fact, all the eligible young
men in town bowed down and worshiped
at her shrine. Probably if it had not
been for the romantic notions which had
been inculcated in Miggie's mind during
her three Years. sojourn at boarding
school in Philadelphia she would have
accepted one Of these many admirer,
who were dead in love with her, ano
would have settled down into the dreary
hum-drum existence of married life, as
the romancists choose to call it, but she
could never think of such thing. No,
indeed; ere she died she would have to
be the principal in some romance, or
else her dreams would always remain
fancies, and not delicious realities.
At the time I write about there were
two young men paying attention to Mig
gle, both of whom were sanguine Of ulti-
mate victory. She treated them both
alike, and, though they tried to outrival
each other by the paying of attentions,
neither Of them could boast of any ad-
vantage over the other.
The first young man whom write
about bore the name of Sam Wark, and
the other the title of Tom Brady. Mig
gle did not like either of these names, as
they were unlike the titles of the heroes
in the books she had read /; yet she COM
forted herself with the thought that,
perhaps, ere she died, they would indi.
vidually engage in some romantic action
that would fit them for a matrimonial
alliance with her. Not that she wanted
them both for husbands, but she de.
sired them both to perform romantic
deeds, and the one that came nearest
her ideal she would accept as her hus.
band. 3
Sam Wark was big, broad-shoul-
dered fellow, with large share of COM
mon sense, and very little romance, per-
vading his disposition. The fact Of the
matter was, Sam had been used to hard
work since childhood, and, consequently,
had no time to think Of romance.
Tom Brady was an exquisite in re-
gard to dress, always wearing the finest
clothes, but he was no more romantic
than Sam. @
The one thing that Tom Brady prided
himself on was his shape. He had a
splendid figure, square shoulders. and a
waist like woman.
The two young men, before their con-
test for the hand of Miggie, had been
warm friends, but since they had entered
on this race they had not been such
ardent admirers of each other, but had
centered all their admiration on one
divinity, Miggie. As their love affairs
waxed hotter they became dead enemies,
and passed each other ON the street
without speaking. Miggie, sly little
puss that she was, helped on this cool
ness. in order. if possible. to have ro-
nance woven for her life. At this time
Miggie was receiving attention from
both of the gentlemen. She would go
to a picnic one day with Sam, and the
next day would go off on an excursion
with Tom. The former would escort
her home from church one Sunday
evening, and the next week the latter
would exercise the same privilege. Peo-
pie were puzzled to tell which was the
favored suitor, and I doubt if either Of
them could settle that vexed question.
All this time Miggie was awaiting some
romantic action on the part Of either ol
the two suitors that would help her to
decide which she would declare as her
accepted lover.
Time rolled ON until one evening Mig.
gle determined to force matters to Q
head, 80 she got Tom Brady, who was
pouring honeyed love phrases into hei
ear, talking about his rival, Sam Wark.
OF course Sam was not such bad fel-
low in Toms estimation, but, as call is
fair in love and war, the latter spoke
rather roughly about him, thinking
TINS to cut him out. Miggie listened
and said nothing, and Tom thought thai
his words had carried the outposts Of hel
heart, and go he went away confident d
ultimate success.
The next evening Sam Wark called X
see Miggie, and that worthy at once re
peated the stories which his rival, Tom
Brady. had been circulating about him