The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-04-25


upon that peaceful sea. The lighthouse
had long disappeared 10 the gathering mist
toward the south. But at such . time,
~ben all is lifeless, inanima.e objects have
. strange way of becoming lif,-.like; the
winds acquire human speech, and he stars
81 ht, ami the very hills bend forward ia
az attitude of anxious watching and listen
ing. In Estes case this feenng was SO
strony that she drew q little nearer to Robin
for protection.
well, Elsie, will you marry meF' he
asked, taking 10th her hands in his and
looking straight into her eyes.
81 don't know"
Surely tue shadow on the further side OF
the BOWLER started. And it might have
been the wini, or 1t might AVE been fancy,
but there certainly seemed to be sighed
ot5 in a low voice full Of sucn mournful
pathos:
''Oh sweet little Betsy, thou'rt breaking my
heart;
Counting Robin the King. they say thou
Both were too engaged to notice this sim
gular phenomenon; Indeed, Robin Graham
was rather staggered at Elsie's answer.
"You don't know" he exclaimed, in an
aggrieved tone. "Come, Else, what do you
nieanf You know Pm very iond OF you,
aud l hoped yod were fond enough
or me to marry me; but, if you're not
well, I've made a mistake, tuat's ALL"
"Lisven-oh listen, Mr.. Graham she
cried in sudden terror.
"Merely q RABBIT"
"OI, but it's no rabbit. It's the boagane
that's about, Pm sure. Let's away! Ga!
do! Iet's make haste back, ior its neither a
have.o
You really must get rid of such no.
tions," said Robin, who felt keenly that
ignorance in a wife would be bad enough,
but thai superstition woul be qui un-
bearaole. "a your age, Else, you ought
civilization has drowned them, every one |;
IN fact, t. ey never existed anywhere but
in the imagluations of silly old wom-
m an, OF t.Iose who didn't know any bet
ter. And how on earth could a miserable
q 'hbone or q wren's feather protect you
from harm? It's sheer nonsense. On, Pm
not blaming you, but those who put such
folly mo your innocent head: they ought
to be ashamed Of them selves"
She was mure astonished now than when
he had asked her TO ma ~ hum, and in her
Indignation SIZE forgot all about the sound
that had startled her. Drawing her hands
away from him, she st pped back a little,
ard, wi, h her dark eyes flashing and her
head thrown back, she looked more like a
pesuti ul Y Isen than a simple fisher girl.
Tue feeling which bids Us cherish what our
fathers have CHERISHED is akin to parental
instinct; it was very strong in Elsie.
What did this stranger mean by saying
at there were no suca things as Doagahes,
when their existence was known to PER-
sons o, the meanest Intelligence, even 10
Black Bailey, the idiot. The ignorance OF
man was pitiful! Why, the Phynuo-
deree was q well-known character in
Rushen, where he moved aay field, and
corn-felds, aud sometimes tossed powders
about ny way o. a cnange, aud the boulders
might be seen As proof positive OF his ex-
istence. Was no. the specie mound seen
n ghtly in Peel Castle? AMI wa it not
matter of no oriety tina "DLme Ereanor
Cobuam, Gl, uccster's wife," haunted the
same place! But there was no need to 20
beyond The glen itself; it was full of COB
Inns. Tue waUerbull, the glashtyn and tue
nightsteed had been seen by many old
enough to believe their own eyes; and, as
Tor the horrible groans of THESE noisy
spirits, on WIn;e r's night it was not safe
to go out of doors-at any rate, without
prosection of q chapel of bollau-feailleoin.
And yet tuis stranger had tie impudence
to say that it was all NONSENSE, that boag-
anes were a myth
''Un, but Tve heard them, Mr.. Graham"
said Elsie.
"You heard the wind, Elsie"
Sand I've seen them, too"
"You thought SO, Elsie, but you were
wrons: You could not see what does not
exist"
"lls all very we'll for you as hasn't seen
them to say they dou't exist; but it's other
people that have seen taem, and they know
Ina there are Uoaganes everywhere"
Here was an awkward stumoiin ID ock.
To marry . woman who believed in COLLINS
did seem outrageous. Every night she
might be putt out bowls of water for
tuem to drink, and laying gust on The floor
10 obser rye tIeir footsteps in the morning,
and then brushing it carefully from the
4 ,or towards the hearth lest q whole nouse-
lui OF good luck should be swept away.
There would tie no doing anything for fear
Of offending these ridiculous spiri s.
Robin Graham had dec ,ded upon attempt
ing very dangerous tLing-nothing more
D. less than an experiment in matrimony.
He really had become somewhat til ed of
ne trammels and ways OF the society in
which his life had bean spent, aud he had
grown so fond of Els that he hal deter
ninsd 20 marry and rduca her, The sume
hing had en- done Defore; Why not againf
About Iuree mon, his before his time he had
.nme 10 tue gen fOr the purpose OF fishing,
IN ne had taken and furnished a pIctur-
.sque Ii tie Gotta e. He had been thrown
nucn N Elsie's com amy; sue had helpe
lIm with mis- boat and his lines, and sue
IA shown him tn. best places to 60 for cod
,ud whiCinc and mackerel. In this way heir
lcqua n; ance usd p. o. .reSscd apidiy until it
iad reacded the present stage. Hewas sure
nat she was good and beautiful; W lat more
would he useless think of rai-ing her to
lis level; 1t would be equally useless to
h,nk of descending to hers; bat surely
between there must exits q
PLATFORM on wLich they could meet on
,qual erms. Compromise is the very es-
euce of happy married life; Robin Ora |
lam had esoived TO put this principle into
dol, a 1,.,l
he mple habits of the people auoug, and |
re was convinced thai the thins was prac- |
icable, though perhaps not without some |
title friction at first. Th venIng. how !
'ver, two or three trifles, such as ElSie's |
grammar, lad Jared raeher painfully upon |
lis SUSCEPTIBLE is, but nothn so much as !
mis- revelation about her superstition. Sue |
lad displayed, too, an unexpec ed amount |
obsunacy; in the interest of her educa- |
ion this had to be eradicated at once.
ELSIE, your charms would be Ist as |
lSeiul to you as a straw to a drowning !
nan. Such notions are out of da e; t ley |
,eiony to the days of witchcra t and nom |
idiculous in soc-among educated people. |
And as for these pre- noSterous boa.aneS,
lou must give up believing in them-you
eally must. There never were such
hings, and I'll prove it to you"
Though he had ad pied the foolish device
u try ing TO strengthen his case by mere
Elsie was so stron: in her con-
lotions that she refrained from attacking
nm at his weak point. She said, simply:
Its Joe Gu ii am that has told me about
hem many a time. Oh, and believe him,
co." .
"What can an ignorant fisherman know
bout such matters" /
'Or an ignorant fisher girl either, Mr..
This harsh classification of his intended
vi with an awkward common lout of
sherman was exceedingly objectionable.
ike many others. he considered himself
as " superior to every woman in his own
ank OF life, but he looked upon the women
n a lower rung OF the social ladder As
much superior e. ihe men. Somehow or
her these two opinions had never been
roug It in5o juxtaposition in Ills own mind;
they had been, perhaps he might have