Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1885-05-23

But the didusc curincSs OF that viva
cious writer's narrative has len untold,
and has not even Indicated, the episode
which precipitatcd the climax Of their
sentimental sword.play and lett the
Amazon OF the duel alone on the saw
dust circle OF their mutual pettincss
worstcd.
Miss Woodbury. and Fred EIensaw
were fast friends She admired him
for his manlinesS and his womanliness.
She believed the half OF his character
she knew and understood, and refused
to be Interested in the hall she could
not know Wiser than her sex or her
experience, she took the face value OF
his brilbancc and thanked the high gods
Of circumstance that their gifts were
no, less lavish.
She believed mos, shrewdly and with
truth that Fred wrote the best OF Jacks
verses that he turned his phrases ard
coached his sentiment but she neither
understood nor recognized the yirilc
undcrruucnt OF strength in the good
young junior whom she had chosen to
play upon and Of whom she talked to
her friend and his as freely as il he had
been spaniel she had chosen FOR
viviSection.
On Saturday in the following Octo
ber Miss Woodbury. went over to
Berkeley to lunch with Mrs. Mastella
Clarke and in the afternoon she and
Fred sailed forth for a stroll about the
college mounds.
There is a spot Just above the nur
sery green houses where a rustic bridge
used once to span the north fork OF
Strawberry Creek The broken abut
ment OF this one.time bridgelet formed
an excellent seat for two congenlal com
panions. When Henshaw and Miss
Woodbury. reached 1t that afternoon
they sat down as matter OF course
as they had previously done on more
than one occasion A great bay tree
made their section of the narrow gorge
a dense shade The afternoon was
sul,ry and the shade most grateful
They seemed quite alone. No SOUND
came to them from the heat and glare
and Observation-Disclosures of outside
Surely they were quite alone. Yet hac
they troubled themselves to be sure
they might have discovered studiou:
Jack Bracey not ten yards away, ASLEEP
with his Horace under his head and in
it one of Miss Woodbury's poems, fol
a book mark.
VIVA, Weakened Jack was the noist
OF his own name, coupled with scorn
full gest Ten sentences were sufficien
TO make it clear that the piquant heart
breaker had planned no deviation from
her merciless path in his favor Fore
armed with his friends warning he hac
given her coquetry the benefit of only
one doubt.
She had blushed when she called
him Jack, when last they met at Mrs
Reade's. Neither tenderners nor fasci
nation would have wrought real DANCE
to Jack Bracey at her hands But il
conquest there was compensation
surely there could be neither profit no.
credit in worsting woman at game
OF bluff. That night he wrote the note
which Miss WoodbuDs unquestionablt
taste enabled Mr. Shirley to use. Tina
letter, read in the light of the facts
have stated, is work OF art. The
lady's reply is not less SO. Yet there i
this to be considered in re-reading Mr.
Shirley's special plea. The accomplished
partisan is careful to place before tht
reader the inference that his friend
though it served her never so "richl,
right'--was vastly ny friends superio
in the hnesse Of flirting and the alice
smartness of that ill-defned sor, of &C
complishment, which, for lack OF /;
better word, the hour is pleased to cal
literary So the sketch was mean
to mean that Miss Woodbury. has beer
punished by the laughable alarm of
good youth whose mental makeup
was in urgen, need Of the young lady
condesoending pity.
! trust that IN making ii my duty I,
remove from my friend the reproach o
mental medrocrity, and the stigma O
goodness, | have made myself clear.
any feminine friend Of Miss Woodbury.
who happens to be going to Baltimore
thinks l have misstated the affair, vii
gladly give her a line OF introduction
to Jack Bracey--with white card.
ALFRED HARpIE
Berkeley, California, February rs
1855.
A libel has been filed in the Unite,
States District Court, San Francisco