Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-10-04
AN UNSUCCESSFUL SUIT.

AN UNSUCCESSFUL SUIT.
John loved Mary; but Mary was not
quite sure that she loved John. Their
parents being the nearest neighbors,
their farms joined, they had grown up
together from childhood, had made
each other penny presents, and mutually
agreed to return them if they ever got
mad for good.
Thus Mary came in possession of an
| iron thimble, tin needle-box and
brass ring for various needlework per-
| formed on Johnny's sleeves or the knees
of his trousers, which saved him many
taste of the parental rod.
To the credit of their childhood it
must be said that Mary never had to
return those gifts. there being few dis
agreements between them, and these
were quickly reconciled.
| In their youth they had tramped
hand-in-hand to Sunday-school, as they
now did to church. But no longer to
Mary's edification; being too much an
noyed at her companions appearance
to give due attention to the sermon.
The annoyance was in Johns inclina-
ton to dandyism. With the first APP
/ poor ohND Va doWh On HIS upper ljp Hc
had bought himself moustache wax,
and a high hat crowned his perfumed
locks long before he was twenty.
Mary, a practical, energetic girl, was
rather Disguised than fascinated by
superficial elegance. Her person was
always decked with that simplicity
which became her manner-quiet, direct
and decided.
To have man beside her whom
everybody regarded as her lover dressed
in the the height of fashion with no in
come but the product of his farm labor
spoilt Mary's Sunday temper to such an
extent that she resolved to let John
know her mind before another Sunday
could be spoilt
Now John, blissfully ignorant of her
feelings, was just then stroking his
moustache and persuading himself of
the necessity of buying another suit for
the occasion that should make Mary
his wife.
After church John told Mary that he
was going to town the next day to buy
something for her, and new suit for
himself, in which he would appear
some evening with very important
question.
He looked in vain for the rosy tint on
Mary's face. She only said, with a
faint sheer: '.Do put some sense in
the next suit you get, john
"Then you don't think there is much
sense in the suit when I'm in it, eh?''
laughed John, with faint suspicion
that her indifference was owing to his
not appearing sooner in some later
style.
He resolved that the next one should
surpass anything he ever wore. ..Grat-
ify a girls vanity, and she's yours"
he thought, without the slightest sus-
picion that he was gratifying his own
and thereby fast losing his hold on
the handsomest and most sensible girl
there was in the neighborhood of sixty
miles.
John, too, was considered no small
catch. Many a girls heart was set
fluttering when she heard his strong
baritone voice lowered to confidential
whisper. For John was not only q
dandy but a flirt. All his heart ever
dwelt on with constancy was Mary and
fashionable suits.
Every year he went to town for new
rig, from top to toe, of the latest cut.
| He felt himself foot taller when the
| salesman once told him that his face
and figure would do credit to the Broad
way style.
Of course John wouldn't show his
| ignorance of city life by ascertaining
the particulars of that style. He felt
satisfied that purchases made from the
| same salesman every year would secure
| him the much -lauded style.
The new suit bought, John was Civ
ing it its first airing by visit to Mary.
He had made up his mind to propose
formally and be formally accepted.
The engagement ring was In his pocket,
and the wedding suit should be the one
he had on. He didn't believe in long
engagements, and thought he might
| allow himself to appear once in his
most impressive elegance on an oc-
casion that was rs impressive as the
wedding.
So rugged in the latest-long pointed
pumps, pantaloons tight enough to
make sitting and bending his knees
feat dangerous to the seams, jacket
| just long enough TO cover the ends of
| his suspenders, and hat as wide and big
as everything else was narrow and
little-he walked through the lane
that led to her fathers house with the
air of one who knows himself in the
| possession of all the charms to CONQUER.
When John entered the front door
Mary was leaning out of the back win
dow reaching for q cluster of roases,
one of which he assured himself, was
intended to adorn his new Jacket
He thought the opportunity too good
to be lost-an in informal kiss would ex-
press half of his formal speech, which
somehow he couldn't remember.
The kiss was fairly implanted on
Mary's lips, and so was singing blow,
and the print of shapely fingers, on
Johns cheek.
"How dare you! "a tramp! IA
man in small clothes! a-good gracious
it's John Redpath!''
The confused and indignant exclama-
tions which burst from Mary's lips end
ed in a peal of laughter If Mary's
conduct was not sufficiently dampen-
ing, Mary's grimaces, as she retreated
to the fartherest corner of the room,
were.
For the first time in his life John did |
not know what to do with his hands |
and feet
When Mary's enjoyment of the ridi-
culous had exhausted itself in ringing
laughter, she excused herself, with a |
shy look of concern at the red side of |
his face, for her rude reception of him
and ventured to ask what his idea was |
for dressing in his younger brothers
clothes?
"Miss Hepworth," said John. with
the sharpness of rising anger, .'do you
really think that /, John Redpath, would
come here in the character of nv
brotherp''
Not exactly in his character, you
know. But, really" (viewing him
again with an ill-concerned SMILEY |