The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-12-19

w tulllh u IL, 1uOn Gn1nk lie mas asked
me right out. l believe it was under
stood between US perfectly before any
thing was said on the subject, and
when we did talk about it l took it as IL
matter of course"
81 believe that is the way in a MAORI
ty OF cases, said Aunt Jane, laughing,
and this mythical idea of popping the
question is something that very rarely
occurs. As Jenny says, it's all under
stood without it. Now, for myself, I've
been the same as engaged three or four
times, and yet I never received but one
formal offer in my life"
oh! tell us all about it, %auntie," said
the three Misses Tibbs, hitching their
chairs up a little closer to Aunt Jane.
well. it's hardly anything to tell,
girls, but if you desire to hear it, l
must tell it. But to explain what I say
about being engaged without receiving
a formal offer, l will cite a case or two
within my own experience. My first
was when [ was seventeen, and, as l
then thought, as much u woman as I
am now. | was spending the summer
on the seashore with my Aunt Margar-
ct, and Aunt Margaret, having made q
successful marriage, financially speak
ing, herself, was intent on having her
neices do the same, for size had no
children, and so every summer she took
to fashionable places, and every winter
to all the balls and parties.
This particular summer she chose
the seashore, and there [ met Harvey
Gray, who, though seven years my
senior, and who had been travelling for
three years in Europe, was, really, as
1t is called, at first sight, and were in
fatuated with each other. OF course,
out of this grew the usual sweet COM
munings, moonlight walks, boating,
guitaring, singing, and all the newt
able things appertainlng to lovers, ever
since the world began.
aunt Margaret recognized the mat
ter, and it suited her-too well, as I
afterward thought. Gray was rich,
highly connected, handsome and of IL
reproachable character, therefore a very
desirable match. l say it all suited
Aunt Margaret too we'll, and I'll ex-
plain that by saying that while men are
always ready to take advantage of being
left by the parents and guardians of the
girl they are in love with alone and
uninterrupted in their wooing, vet
there is such a thing as OVERRIDING this,
SO as to rather turn him against it. He
would really be better pleased with a
little opposition. I think Aunt Margar-
ct slightly overdid it.
However, the summer passed, and
we were happy, and 1 felt as much en-
gagged to Harvey as though the actual
words had been spoken, and [ am as
sure as we can be of anything in this
life that Harvey felt the same way. In
fact we talked freely of what we we're
to do in the future, and there was moth,
ing wanting but the setting of the day,
when Aunt Margaret stepped in, which
l have always thought was unfortunate,
to say the least of 1t, for I am q decided
advocate Of early marriages. Well, we
were to start for the city early the next
morning, and for what occurred the
previous evening / am indebted to Aunt
Margaret's W recital. l was detained
in my own room packing, but was to
meet Harvey on the piazza at 8 o'clock.
He was to go with US to the city the
next day, and l left him after dinner
p~romenading with my aunt. When 1
returned at 8 o'clock, he was not there,
and Aunt Margaret made his apologies
by saying that he was indisposed and
had retired. The next day when he
did not appear to go with u to the city,
Aunt Margaret was forced to an expla-
nation. She had asked Harvey what
his intentions were, and he had re-
volted.
II thought my heartwas broken, but
Aunt Margaret said she had done right,
and that the man who after three
months of unlimited courtship, as she
looked upon it, that could not explain
his intentions had better be got rid of.
l never saw Harvey again until he was
married, three years after, when we
met, as they say in France, with elevat-
ed po~liteness. He married one of the
great bellies of society, and in two years
he was living a bachelor life i'll Paris
and she was living in New York City.
Perhaps Aunt Margaret was in the
right; I do not know"
But the three Misses Tibbs declared
that Aunt Margaret was not right, but
emphatically wrong, and after discuss
ing the matter a while Maud said:
"But, %auntic, you haven't told US
about the one real offer that you did
have"
every WE'LL" said Aunt Jane, laugh
ing, GIL skip the offers 1 didn't have
then, and tell of the ones I did have, if
you say so. You all remember Under
wood, of course. Your grandfather
boughtit, Jennie, when you were a baby,
and we all spent our summers there.
That's twenty years ago, and l was
then what society calls passe-in fact, /
had before that made up my mind to q
life of old maidism.
"One day I had taken q fancy to go
into the kitchen and make a cake. 1
did this because everybody except the
hired men and one of the chamber
maids had gone to the city, even the
cook being away for the day, the hired
men off in the fields, and Mary and I
the only occupants of the house. Ihad
begun my cake-making when 1 discov-
cred the want of certain spices, and
Mary volunteered to go to the store to
obtain them. She had hardly got away
when l heard a step, and raised my eyes
to see a man standing at the kitchen
door, which opened into the path that
led to the road.
"My heart was in my throat in an in
slant, and I remembered how utterly
alone / was. We we're not afraid of
tramps in those days as now, but I
think a better specimen of that genus I
never saw. He was dilapidation itself,
and as I looked at him in o dazed,
| frightened way. he whined:
LADY, I'm very hungry. Won't
you give me something to eat?'
"As scared as | was 1 reasoned. ]