Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1884-01-23

Nllieas 90 Tribune Prize storYl Is
Yoaagss Mr. Gordon. will be hereshsxbs

IRouSltS,' DeIng OF an eXceSulllSly 'l'e'SiouS
temperament, and addicted III the carrier
days of her existence to top-spinnmgsmaroie
playi4gA esatls other amuSements popniaaliy
suppdSeT to Sba the exclusive Property Oh
boys-looked up in very placid manner as
her father made this announcement, ana
answered it fully and effectively by an ex,
plesSSiySS ehFds of 1srps'etty Shoulders and
q very decided pouttng of her small mouth.
Thepl AZ Fkgg8 ttssgsp9ok which est BEEN en-
sidesc5llskS ssna Infect to swiftly describa
a sehiSeirSIes, and when the flash of brown
hose s1@l Exetsily -spr1aea ankle was ever She
had dSs5lhetfa sitting posture, her previous
attitSGts LaSin@ heea one Of Comfortable hut
ratlSef thIdign ffied Arecumbency. She then
f b t. S1sSs y and sTts said ~
rs the kArapahoe coming, tooPTSy iiXi
Mr.! 4idASeE$offs manner changed at once.
YES he Hzphsd, =, Ny< Gordon will accom-
pant tas1s5rf;; and T want you, Margaret, to
treat him With every reSFEeet-il1 fast, shall
expSi. us EAtts "a" SNf >5>'A
The figure on the sofa saw that q mistake
had been made early in the campaign. When
her father addressed her as 9 Margaret, it
meaat.ese sbsw fsl:ssleasale on Ehisipart. y 1t
also nItant that he must be plaC9ted at once,
for Mr. Henderson was one of that rather
numerous class of men il whose minds q real
or fancisd injury continues to magnify with
eachf6sRea sS ia5Staht,; until it finally wraps
their whole existence in an artificial but none
the less effective gloom. Molie was well &C
quainted with the disease, and on equally init
mate terms with the remedy. Consequently she
atonce bounded from the sofa, flung her.al1l1s
around the paternal neck, squeezing that
useful portion of mans anatomy, until
fracture of the cerYical, vertebra seemed
imminent, bestbwing at the same time upon
her sire q large number of kisses, these being
punctuated with ejaculatory and highly
incoherrrt remarks to the effect that the
object Of this tidal-wave of OSCILLATION was
the dearest, daringest old papa in the world,
so he was, and Ftha6 the oratIiX on the con-
trary, was a haushty, wicked girl, who
didn't deSeIreAte have such sweet, lovely
papa, who was always doing everything in
the world for her. And then, having fin
ished this wild futter of diSjointed English,
Miss Molie nestled closely in her fathers
arms and INDUCED in that never-failing pan
aCea for all the woes to which female flesh is
perpetual heir-a good cry. \ s
Its all right PansY, darling said Mr..
Henderson, stroking gently the mass of
brown hair that lay upon his breast, the re-
mainder of the head to which it belonged
having bees thrust violently under his left
arm is an Apparently wild endaavor to dis
cover by burrowing any stray suspender or
other article of gents furnishing goods that
might be concealed there. Il was little
hard on you, perhaps, but you know Mr..
Gordon is a lifelong fsiend of NINE and I
don't like to have You allude to him in
careless or jesting manner
The face was slowly withdrawn from be-
meath the paternal arm and looked u at Mr..
Henderson. 1t was not exactly pretty
face there being tip-tilted nose somewhere
about the mids1efof it, and the features were
not at all regular or classic. But the big
brown eyes and their long lashes would have
attracted attehf6a from any one not a pro
fesSional cyIfie Or misanthrope, and when
these, looking up appaalngly, called to their
aid dropping mouth white, regular teeth,
and lips that seemed quivering with the
agony Of great mental suffering, the imme-
date and complete capitulation of whoever
constituted the opposing force was a matter
Of course.
And here a little explanation is necessary.
From tn ~ days of her infancy when, her
mother ping died, she was relegated to the
Zen, aunt whose spinsterhood, in
view 9 fact that Mr. Henderson had
loved his \, lie very dearly, and did not at all
desire to replaee-with another helpmeet, ap-
peared to bexa8pecial dispensation in favor
of the mo4iefless. little girl, Mollie had been
treated by her father to remarks concerning
Mr.. John Gordon, who, she was informed
had gole-te tAe far west several years previ-
ously, and been left a widower with me child
boy ab6utt five years older than Mollie. One
of the first facts impressed upon the child's
mind was that Mr.. Gordon lived in Idaho.
Subsequently in her iufantile per1sal Of the
newspapers-which at the age of ten she
read regularly, and with great fidelity to de-
tail-she CLEANED the information that Idaho
was the home of the Arapahoe Indians, and
at once identified AIr. Gordon with the noble
sons of the forest, and pictured him to her
self as q ferocious person Of car1nine hue
(having seen Indians alluded to in the public
}rints as red mem carrying constantly with
lin a lause-mgpty of ton1ahawks and other
7truca Is SAtfefy While there dargied at BIS
long string of particularly CORY sc the
Knowleiesyjt,h incrgt1dtng. ~eers, cas- not an
Indian, Mol1ie stuck heroically to the name
and persistently alluded to him as sthe
Arapahoen TTEnz ~.
II Adu DSSu d lttslCy Ol MI. denO6r-
sons that he should like to see his daughter
married to the son of his old friend, and he
had not failed to mention the fact to Melie
when that young lady reached the age at
which the feminine mind is supposed to take
more or less interest in such matters But
Miss Moaiebns shifted the air disdainfully
through her ''retrousse" nose, and replied that
she hoped papa would succeed in getting rid
of her to some aborigine, throwing out at the
same time dark hints to the effect that in case
the child of the prairies should suddenly be-.
come deceased, She had no doubt :. Bar1lun
would part Yiith one of his Wild men from
Borneo, in oder that al hopes of a suitable
alliance for her might not be frustrated. At
the close of one of these outbursts, she would
generally weep copiously, which action al
ways reduced Mr.. Henderson to a state of
servile humility, and insured Miss Mollie i'm
munity from furthera Illusion to matrimony
for at least month: ~ |
But now the young man who had fitted in
such wi!l.o:t the wisp fashion before her
mental visiah $sb many years was coming
to New York. The trip was to be made.
his father had written Mr. Henderson, for
the double purpose Of giving 'sthe boyn (he
was 26) CHARGE to see the sights of great
city and affording the other gentleman an
opportunity Of rekisitipg the scenes of his
youth, which, as Mr. Henderson Informed
Mollie parenthetically while reading the let
ter to her, were about four miles back of New
London, Conn, and not, SO far as he was
aware, Of particularly inspiring character.
''Now, Pansy, darling" said Mr. Hender-
son when the letter-reading was finished, "I
don't want you to marry young Gordon or
any one else unless you do so entirely of your
own accord. But I do want you to treat
him well, and make his stay as pleasant as
possible" g
"of course I'll do fAasss papa, = replied Mod
lie dutifully, as she AsSapon the sofa tapping
one little foot with tieefher and gazing upo1
The opsfatsph in reflective manner. "of
course Shall be polite to him, but really I
don't wantto marry him and go out west to
live amgag the prairie dogs and sleep in a
wigwanans
The day Of the Gordons' arrival was mo-
mentous one for Mollie,. and when, seeine her 1
father enter Enrc& osice HyHb ftaoanoA Sa,.FI,e