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

lcneeflul, cuetty vie 70 make Yea ana sew
on buttons, and do things generally. 70,
could manage that, Elsier
"Oh, Yes, Mr. Graham," she exclaimed
her dark eyes wide-open with surprise
"and Pm thinking old Kitty Corkin coulc
do that for you" The words touched Tath
or discordant note, but the voice wa, sin
gularly sweet, having learned It's cadence.
from the winds and waves.
"Well, well; never mind about Kitty
Corkill. She Is old and ugly, aud you arr
neither the one nor tina other. Which Is il
to be, Elsie, yes or ho"
And now from across the heather cams
the last sad words of the song but 90 softly
that neither of hese two heard it:
| 'Oh, sweet little Betsy, thou'rt breaking my
| heart.
Court " Robin the King they say thou art,
Robin the King, ROBIN the King dian"
When tue invi idle singer ceased the darl
hills seemed to grow darker and a gloom t.
TALL over the undulating mooriand and the
wide sea beyond, though the skv still re
| manned starry and cioudless. Elsie, per
| ceiving that the "merry dancers" had
vanished, could not repress little shudder
| but she was soon absorbed in the contefn
plasion of the bright prospect suddenly
opened out before her.
| She was a beau iful picture Of fairyiand
for it was quite impossible to lima slne its
existence in reaI life. Wild billy coast seen
| cry Is fruit ul in marvels; but set a man
down i'm the middle of plain and he would
suppose the earth to be fat, and life mo-
notonous level track along it. Here in thi,
lonely glen, the whole air was full of mys
terry; the tales that the old folks told around
their cot age-fires after nightfall re OF
| things ami beings invisible 10 duh eli izens.
| The was Ben Varrey, the mermaid, who
before every great festival, impaired to Eer
j wells new briliiancy by setting tnem in
the wave-rops, and there they might be
a. -, Ill. Ill 1,
| syrens sang bewtching melo les to en-.
! tIce mortals away from them. VINO
had not heard of the splendid city,
with its gilded towers and minarets, which
that mighty magician, F,n MacCoul, had
! sunk beneath the waves of Port So iericy
Though he had transformed its inhabitants
| into blocks of granite, yet curiously enou b
| they were summoned to church regularly
| every Sunday, for the sailors often heard
| the tinklIng of the bell; and the whole
| is stand rose TO the surface once every seven
years, and would remain above water il
only one could SCI il and lay q Bible upon
it. And beneath Cas- lie Rusnen WAS there
not wonderful race of giants, who drank
out o golden goblets and wore magnificent
clothes, and whose suburban retreat was
illuminated by areckless profu ion of wax
csndlesi This was incontestable, for an
adventuresoIne mortal had interviewed one
OF hem, and the giant, after asking how
things were going on in the upper regions,
had crushed w plowshare as easily as il
it had been a fiibert, and then said pleas.
antly: "There are still men in the Isle
o. Man, Why, Elsie had seen wi h her
own eyes I'm Xix Malew a chalice which
had been carried off from an elfin banquet.
And w tn such wonders she had to fashion
her picture.
First of all, there was to be a house twice
as large as her iathei's matched cottage
in tine glen; the crockery on the dresser
was TO be replaced by silver plate, like
thu Sc used for collecting in Churches on
grand occasions; the brass candlesticks
upon the mantelpiece were TO make way
for gold ones; the stone floor W ,uld be b ID
den benea b a gorgeous carpet; the deal
tables and chairs must go-something
wood, like the old Dutch clock, would look
better; outside there should be handsome
porch and q garden, and geraniums IN the
window, and no split consers hanging
against the walls; and in the midst OF all
this grandeur would be Elsie herself,
dressed in Elk and bedecked with jewels,
like Ben Varrey, and do nothing all day
long but sitting in an armchair and order.
Ing iIer servants about. As this splendid
vision passed through her brain he. dark
eyes flashed with delight, and balf-uncon-
sciousiy she swept the long black hair from
her beautiful face o make ners 4. look more
like the Vica's dau, hter, whose hair was
fastened behind. g-..
H"rrings for dinner to-day; behring's yes
terday; behring's tomorrow. There would
be no more herrinss, thought Elsie; the
barrel would vanish from the corner OF The
room, and, ms cad, she would dine upon
bacon and beet and delicacies or every
kind. Goodbye to amylass (butSer-milk
and water), soliaghan "a kind OF porridge),
bragutan "a sandwich OF bu tered oatcake,
potatoes and herring), and binj an (curd u;
instead OF the Se she would fare aS If every
day were q Sunday school feast, aud she
would have plenty of jough (beer) tor her
ia her ami tue neignbors. Oh, yes, her en-
joyment was not to be wholly selfish.
Tuere was to be chair for ner father ~
the chimney-c ,rn.r, aud tobacco in plent
and he was to sit there and smoke Fl on
morning till night; and her nsighbors we e
TO come in Tor some share OF her omforts.
For some, she would purchase their W inter-
stock OF he. ngs; for others, she would
pay men to Gu. and stack their peat; an
for o hers, whose nets had Teen CARR
away. she would buy new ones. You See,
Estes notion of paradise was smiling die
ness. tempered by little wel.-directed
kindness.
1t won d be interesting to learn how many
have noticed a SIGg llar omI Ssion from her
elections. Among the lair sex pro. ably
no, one. The IDEA ut we for the man VINO
had asked her t. marry him had never en-
tered Eisie's ,eaa. She regarded uim > a
sort of fairy who could supply
he with an illimiiable number of good
things; an this Stirred her fancy ra'Eer
than ner ava.ice, as it would have d-'ae
with better educated girls. Robin Ora raa,
was too high alb we her for her TO think OF
loving him; sue mig It have worshiped him,
but love hIm-no, tuaJ was quite impossi-
bic. She felt that he belonged to some en-
tirely different order of beings from her.
srlf; and, though he was wei, fitted to be
the center ornament OF the ma snificent
scene she had depicted, she could not bring
herself TO think of him as a fieSn-and blood
husband. ...a.
But in all this golden amber it must be
at the e was a very inappro-
pirate fly, joe Quilliam by name, and the
question was not how did ne get there, but
how to get him out. He was plain, SIM
than Elsie, tut without doubt desperately
in love with her. there was no actual |
pledge between them. His natural
bashfulness had prevented him from |
declaring himself, and he had not |
been goaded into do ng so by the |
had no need 20 question her own heart-a |
species of catechism thai the dilatory far |
sex seldom resor1s 10 until the last mo- |
ment Pro ,aOly she Ma :, as she believed, |
for this curious organ is very |
like "Rupert's drop"--hard and obdurate |
b iron until lt is touc Ie1 upoa one partic- |
ular spot, when it undergues a sudden and |
irreparable transforma iSn. In Elsie's |
case this cata trophe ha Lot vet happen !
ed. She had listened atteI.ively to all that |
the fisherman had to say, and she had oc- |
cUaffed him about his want of sue. |
cess with the Ioosters or the cong rs; but |
this surely is no: a very advanced stage of |
AMI, beyond accs ting few |
bri ght ribbons from him last Ioliandtide |
Eve. she had given him no definite eucour.
agement.
so ar, all well and good. But, unfortu- |
nately, Joe Q lillian was rather a hot-tem- |
pered fellow, with q disa cable pain |
way of speaking his mind, and there was |
no knowing what he might do or say wen /
fine gentleman, Robin Graham. 1t NAV