Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-12-03
MASQJJERAD

~ - 4,.hA1hA3SE NllllGlllSllSQst 80 SESss3
M II declare / am ashamed Of my seq ~
exclaimed Mabel Lee, as she threw
aside the paper she had been reading
with an expression Of extreme disgust
On her usually merry face.
\ ''Why, what has your sex been do
{ngp'' Asked her brother wv alter, look
ing up in surprise from his writing
desk. A.. .,5.= .Es35.
.1sn't this enough to make any mod
est girl blush?'' said Mabel. taking up
the paper. Such an advestisement!
And they are getting quite common.
soo-just listen: III #.
. .gE IA young lady not mnch over twenty,
handsome, intelligent and moderately
wealthy, wishes to open . correspondence
with a young OF niddle-aged single gentle
nan. Object, mutual improvement and per-
laps matrimony. Address Annie Laurie.'ns
hi ''Well, what harm is there in thatP''''
said Walter. "a young lady not
much over twenty wants q husband.
No doubt she has exhausted tho means
chat are usually employed to obtain the
article, and the newspaper is her last re-
sort. wish her success. and think the
time is not far distant when husbands
and kitchen maids will be advertised for
3inthe same column of wants"
q II don't" said Mabel, "aand protest
against a womau's advertising her
heart for sale as she would her house."
Il think the idea is good one" -.
said Walter, much more honest and
sensible than to plaster her yellow face
with cosmetics, pile several ounces Of
false hair over her own scanty locks
and entrap some poor fellow into a
proposal, who, sooner or later, finds
himself engaged to one of these self.
made young ladies; and for the life Of
him he cannot tell how it all came
about" ~ ". Il =. A.
Few women are obliged to resort
TO such measures, and even that
is not so bad, when the men are silly
enough to fall into such traps, as to
come out in q glazing advertisements.
So you see am going to make an ex-
ample Of Annie Laurie provided you
will help me-
what shall do? Answer the ad-
vertisement and follow it up with cor
respondence that will end, as tho writ
or suggests, in matrmony?" ..,~,
mot exactly. I will answer the ad-
vertisement, pretending to loe man
OF course. You see, she is,an old maid,
and no doubt her heartIs pretty we'll
calloused by previous d sappointments.
and not likely to suffer much from
another, when she sees; her adorer--for
will appoint place to meet her,
after awhile, and give her lecture on
woman's rights-and wrongs want
you to mail the letters and be with me
funp'
Walter Lee, fresh from college in
rig.'es, entered readily into the practi-
raj joke, end Mabel, opening her desk,
wrote, irl large, masculine hand, the
following:
MISS ANNIE: I am widowcr of thirty-fivc,
good looking and industrious, with we'll fur
n1shed house. But am very lonely since the
lily OF my heart dropped into the dust. MY
sainted Mary Ami How / miss her sweet
presence And unless some other fairy form
VIII come to fill the aching void left in my
heart, Its walls will certainly cave in with the
pressure of grief. believe 1t second love.
Does the candle flame 60 out because another
has been lighted from itl Then why should
the Hame of love go out with the light it has
bestowed upon others? ~
The first consolation that came to me in the
Y dark hours of my bereavement was the
thought that the golden gates of metrimony
would again open at my bidding. The fact
that SO dearly loved my angle, Mary Ann, is
proof positive that could love with equal
fervor ono equally worthy. ! i.'.Gss
+ Now, my dear young lady, if you receive an
ether answer to you advertisement that I'M
presses you more favorably than mine, you
need not answer this, and I will seek else
where for one to heal my wounded heart.
Until then I am your truly, ,'.g.
EsT%a3% ROBIN ADA1H.
Z Ihis letter Walter carried gleefullY
70 the post office, and three days later
startled Robin Adair," who was
standing before the mirror pulling at a
4 mass OF golden brown hair, that INSIST
ed upon taking its own natural wave
instead OF the fashionable French one
its owner was trying to produce.
MY dear sir, here Is letter for
yoqq, said Walter, holding toward her
diminutive. rose-colored envelope.
but hadn't you better take my hat
and cigar case, and try to look q little
more masculine?'' he added laughing
". Il fancy if Annie Laurie were to
see you now, she would sell her matri-
ial interest in you for little or moth
ing" 5ss. \ II.
NJ "1'll make her willing to add q pre-
MUM to the price Of nothing, Z said
Mabel as she tore open the envelope. Il:
The letter was written in small, stiff
looking characters, as though the
author aimed at being neat, but only
succeeded in being prim. It ran as
follows: ~ l1a% 83i$ En-
M dear SIR: Ireceivcd no answer to my
advertisement that I value as I do yours. i
saaa somewhat bashfui and half regretted
writing the notice, fearing the gentleman
would think me bold and unmaidenly. But
or reading your letter my regrets all vanished
Inc same sentiments which 1t breathed have
4 slumbered for years in my own heart though