The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1883-08-16
to be early! The carriage Is or.
dered for one, and I'll be sure to be

OLD trleu0,, ana we were III Cuo mlQOl
of most interesting conversation. Sh
was only at New York en- PEASANT, and
should not see her again. It was Yer
provoking to- be obliged to break off j
the middle Of our talk, but how could
he stood waiting with an air of consciou
virtue? It was beyond my power, anc
absurd as it was, 1 had to say good bye tt
An ma and go.
had not supposed at first that Char.
ley's reformation was permanent; but a.
the days went on, l was forced to con
TESS that it looked very much like as i
it were. Promptly as the clock strucl
six in the evening, he entered the house
promptly as it struck nine in the morn.
ing he left it. No ehtreaties could de-
tain him an instant beyond his time.
mo, Leila, my DEAR" was his inva.
much Of life by unpunctyali ty.9o You 9ou
have convinced me OF my error. Why
strive now to undo the good which yor
have done?'
OF course such sentiments ought to
have delighted my heart, and they did,
in measure. Only in a measure, how
ever, must confess. for began to
think that we should be known every
where as "the early BIRDS" 1t was new.
or necessary to urge Charley to get ready
tor anything. We were always the first
In church; we were waiting at the door
Of the operas and theatres long before
they were open; at parties or receptions
it was, our invariable Gus.
tom to spend from hall
an hour to an hour in the dressing room
in order to descend with the earliest
guests. And Charley was continually
expatiating on the sweet reward of vir-
tue and thanking me for teaching him
the beauty of punctuality. Ispent myself
in vain wonderings as to how long this
state Of things was to last; but of course
it came to a climax finally.
| My oldest and most intimate friend,
Charley and had vowed in the most
solemn manner to attend the wedding.
Tina lived at Mountclair and it was
there, Of course, that the ceremony was
to take place.
"Do you think that nine o'clock will
be early enough to leave here?" asked
Charley meekly.
"Nine o'clock! My dear Charley, she
is rot to be married until one, and
Mountclair Is only an hour away.''
II know" said Charley, "but I was
anxious to be in time. think that we
had better start at nine to make -sure.'
swallowed my establishment as best
could. and submitted. 1t was not a
pleasant day. If were not afraid OF
exaggerating, should say That it sas a
decidedly unpleasant one, being cold
and gray, damp and chilly, with that
chillness that goes through your bones.
Already few stray snow fakes were
futtering down, giving promise of a
storm later in the day.
The depot at Hoboken Is not Especial
ly exhi,arating place to wait in; but
Charley settled himself comfortably
with his paper upon one of the straight
up and down settees, saying, eve need
not take too early train, but it is we'll
to be on hand; even if we do reach
Montclair too soon, we can walk about
ana see the place, you know"
Walk about and see the place on such
dayl said nothing, but 1 inwardly
decided that we would not take too ear
ly train. At least we were warm anu
sheltered where we were, and who knew
what we might find at the other end?
While was settling this point in my
own mind, the door at the end of the
room was flung open and Charley sprang
to his feet:
"Come," he said; 1--WE mi ht as well
make sure of this train, after ALL, and
before I could find words in which to
lie to all the fixed principles Of my life,
we were in. the carr S.
Charley was buried in his newspaper
ard was gazing from the window upon
the fast whitening meadows, when the
conductor paused before us with de-
mand for "Tickets." They were ready to
hand, but the conductor gazed upon them
blankly.
"Whereto?" he asked, briefly.
"Montclair," replied Charley, with
equal brevity.
Wrong train. Yours left ten min
utes later from the other door. You'd
better get out at Newark. and take it
there. If you miss it, there'll be another
along in forty minutes"
cit is fortunate that we have plenty of
time," said Charley to me, as the. con-
ductor left us. "Aren't you glad that I
have reformed in regard to pune
tuality?"
"Oh. very gladw said with slight
tinge Of irony, and adding, inwardly,
Especially if it leads you to take the
wrong train rather than wait for the right
one"
We got out at Newark and took the
next train that came along. Being the
next, we made sure that it must be the
right one, but it wasn't. That train land
eb us at Orange. where we spent quiet
hour before another Newark bound
train picked us up.
"You see, DEAR" said Charley, II 20
upon your principle of always being in
time. If we keep on taking the first
train that comes along, we shall be sure
to get there sometime not in time
for the wedding. then, perhaps, in time
for the funeral of all the family"
"We shall not certainly be in time for
the wedding at this rate" said, half
laughing and half CRYING: Suppose by
way OF variety, we try the effect of TAX
ing the last train?'
"What! and abandon principle? New
erP' cried Charley: However, I think
We did inquire, but with the result Of
finding that the next train which it
would be possible for us to take would
not reach Montclair until half an hour
after the time set for the wedding.
"Shall We try it?' asked Charley
cheerfully. "The wedding may be de-
layed, you know. The groom may be
unpunctual or something."
l fairly broke down at that.
"No, we will not" I said. II don't
want to 60 dragging in just at the tail
end of the ceremony. Pm cold and
tired and wretched", but was more than
that. was thoroughly indignant, for l
was sure that Charley had done it all on
purpose. Though I had hidden con-
seriousness that 1 deserveda lesson of
some kind l thought that he had pun.
ished me too severely, 90 had little to
say to him either then or when We
we're sitting together in the evening.
Charley was too busy with paper and
pencil to take any notice thou h.
"Lelia," he said suddenly.
"What is it ?" asked rather sulkily.
II am thoroughly convinced now,"
said Charley, that punctuality is the
king of all virtues, the browning merit
of humanity; but doesn't it strike you as
rather an expensive One?
How" I asked, melted little, but
not much.
"We]], I won't speak of to-day, for
that was not fair test. l know you
think that made all those blunders on
purpose, but I didn't. I suppose the in
toxication of such unusual virtue flew to
my head and muddled my wits, for /
certainly made uncommon hash of that
affair. I had been punctual according to
your ideas, for month now, and have
just been making little computation Of
the result. I began to practice the vir-
tue on the night of Mrs. Lees reception,
believe? Very we'll. We each spent
a solitary hour in the dressing room
which, 1 suppose, may fairly be con-
sidered wasted. Two hours, to begin
with. We went to the opera an hour