Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-02-12
H. LNpN WITH TWO WOMEN

FRIEND: 1T rains. and the wind is never
weary Oh, how it rains, and thunders,
and lightensl | had almost made up my
mind not to write to you again. DO You re-
alize what n blank that would have made in
your lifei | hate to wait so long for an
answer-and besides, it is as easy to answer
letter at onco-if one means to do it at all
~ suppose that you and Jack had n delight
full time in the city told each other Secrets
and grew confidential to the last degree Do
mon really do that sort of thing ont of hooksl
IL am glad that you have made a beginning
to your life at last. Do not alter, now, nor
turn back. All things como 20 him who
knows how to wait and the onn little word
hope has kept the world n-noving for CEN
turtles. Blessed be Pandora that much
abused individual, for this greatest Of all
great gifts to mankind.
"rhad not begun to think that you had for
gotten me-in fact, my friend, | sometimes
forget to think at all-but knew you would
write in your own good time and so waited.
1t is easy to do that, you know-and yet,
sometimes, it is so hard. will advise you
more willingly perhaps, than you will be
advised. You can tell me of your love affairs
when come to the city, of course but can
advise you well now You say, then, that
you are in love with two women. That is an
impossibility-an absurdity No man was
ever in love with two women at the same
time. You love one or neither. l say, that
If you have even the smallest doubt Of your
unwillingness to pass your life with the
woman with whom you bound, end it
now. Do not hesitate nor procrastinate-b
end it. 1t is your duty to the woman as we'll
as to yourself. You can never be happy nor
make her happy, if you marry her thinking
Of another. 1t is absurd to talk Of honor in
such case. Beside, you can end it now
honoraby; after while, when you have gone
to far you can not.
ayes, we can be good friends always, YOU
and |. Perhaps, some day you will I've sorry
you asked my friendship, but, remember, l
gave you fair warning. Jack does not care
and if he did, perhaps it would not matter
AS to what the world says-I have lived in it
Il know i'll despise it. 1t is folly, of
course, for you to value so highly the little
which | can give you But men always were
foolish since the world began. You my poor
boy, are not answerable for the weakness Of
your sex. Your friend. CLARA"
Will Travers studied long and earnestly
over that letter, and yet he could not make
up his mind that the advice which it con-
tanned was exactly of the right sort for him
to follow. He knew that Clara esteemed
him. and he appreciated as he should the
generous wealth of friendship and sage counsel
which she was wont to lavish upon him on all
occasions, She was that most valuable ally
TO a young mana married woman friend
She was staunch, true as steel to his interests,
believed in him more fully than he believed
in himself, knew his weaknesses and twitted
him upon them sometimes without mercy
and yet never let AN opportunity pass to do
him good turn, or to say good word for
him to others, And with all this there never
was shadow of sentimentality between
them. There never had been. He was her
husbands best friend his confidential adviser
In affairs of business. Jack Powell, mer-
chant i'll an interior town, knew and trusted
his friend and his wife. He was wise man.
Not for worlds would either have dreamed Of
not deserving that trust. 1t a thing, in
fact, of which neither of them ever thought
Friendship between man and woman is a
sacred thing, and VIII Travers and Clara
Powell were friends
Travers studied long and earnestly the ad-
vice of his friend. No, he did not see how
he could break his engagement with honor
and he was an honorable man; or at least he
thought he vast is much the same thing
1t had been very delightful that summer
month beneath the skies Of San Diego. How
well remembered now each feature of the
town came back to him-a rushing food Of
sights and sweet voices and grlish laughter
Closing his eyes, he could see it all again. He
was again upon the deck Of the Santa Rosa,
as with magnificent curve she swept around
the bold face of Point Loma-and behold a
town, half Yankee and half Spanish, sleep
ing quietly upon the gentle slope of red land
which rose backward from the bay. Again
he stood among the passengers crowding to
the rail to view the Mecca of their hopes for
haalth Tn tba
way slowly, the steamer moves-the bold
bluffs OF the headland upon one side, and on
the other the low-lying peninsula with its
broad beach upon which the great rollers Of
the ocean tumbled in inextTicable confusion
beating ever a mad though vain demand
for admission to the still lagoon. Past the
fishing villages which nestle at the great hills
feet, white and dainty, like houses from the
fairyland, against a sombre background of
hill and still waters. Then the headland
breaks away in gentle slope: they steam past
the army barracks, the vessel turns in the
narrow channel and the passengers disembark
upon the long wharf-while over the Table
mountains, far away upon the soil of Mexico,
the rising sun darts his rays upon the distant
Coronadas-and the drowsy summer day had
begun in CALIFORNIA; most southern port
1t all began with a Sunday picnic TO the
Mussel beds-a most reprehensible practice
And yet every body in San Diego-every one
who can, that is-goes to the Mussel beds on
Sunday. 1t is strange with what facility the
average American forgets in southern Cali.
fornia that the Sunday is day set apart for
rest and worship. They have the rest, it is
true; but the religious Observance is not
nearly so strict as in the eastern community
The Californian seems to accept the German
idea Of rest and recreation Perhaps it is the
easy freedom Of the climate-allowing a de-
hgious anguor which is yet not enervating to
steal over one in the open air-which does
it. Perhaps it is Discrimination to shut out
the glorious sunshine, even for small an
interval as church service Perhaps it is the
contagion of free conscience which has fol-
lowed the emancipation Of the natives from
the rule of the padres. | do not believe that
it arises from any lack OF deep-lying relg-
ious feeling.
Win Travers arrived in San Diego on Sat