Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-09-29
We share our mutual woes,
Our mutual burdens bear.

Then it suddenly dawned upon him how
easy it would be to say: MARY, let us
share our mutual Woes" and he couldn't
dismiss it from his mind all the evening.
Every now and then, to his great embar-
rassment, he got out of tune To make
matters worse, the Professor noticed it
every time, and in a kindly manner offered
& suggestion, which increased Johns con-
fusion. There was no one in the class
gladder than John when $50 came and he
and Mary stepped out into the moonlight
"a 90 home. They picked their way along
The sidewalk slowly, cautiously and in 81
Ienee. John did not speak, for two rea-
sons. He was oppressed with the thought
that he had been particularly stupid dur
ing the whole evening, and was repeating
the sentence, Mary, let us share our mu-
tual woes" go that when the stood beneath
the light in the parlor he could put his
| arm around her and say it without blush
ing. Mary was silent with expectation.
How brief 4 sentence would have made
them supremely happy.
Johns Observation-Disclosures proved to dis
tract his attention from the icy walk more
than he should have allowed, and no less
than half a dozen times Mary's feet
| slipped, but each time she found herself
borne up by her sturdy lover Each slip
was accompanied by little shrek, and
when she was again safe her soft laugh was
music to him.
A group of boys pulling sled turned
the corner ahead and dashed past them
Her foot slipped, a little shrek, and she
was down. But she wasn't alone In fall
ing she had managed to knock Johns feet
from under him and he had fallen, too.
Each scrambled to rise quickly and their
heads came together with a sound bump.
John was in the throes of awkwardness.
when Mary said naively, as he helped her
to her feet: ave seem to share our mutual
| woes"
He was amazed. The very sentence he
| had been saving for under the gaslight !
| Before he could take advantage of his pres
ent opportunity, however, Mary seemed to
realize that she had been immodest, and
she talked incessantly as they walked on,
as If determined that he should reap no
| advantage from her remarks
| John made several efforts to recall the
opportunity, but was baffled every time.
| Then he determined to wait until they
stood beneath the gaslight, but when they
reached the parlor the light seemed to
burn more brightly than ever before. and
his courage departed. Once he made an
effort, but the first words that came from
his lips were woes" and the conscious
ness that he was laundering caused him to
blush and pause before trying again. But
a sweet What were you going to say p
completed his embarrassment and ne an
swered Nothing" and in despair pre-
pared to go.
a moment later as they stood at the
parlor door exchanging the last words
and as Johns hand was on the knob, Mary
turned her blue eyes to him and said with
laugh: You'll be sure TO get home with
out falling, for you'll have no one to drag
you down."
Johr's face crimsoned. Hewas about to
protest that she hadn't dragged him down
when he thought of the lost opportunity
after they had fallen. He had a feeling
that the sentence that he had been trying
to say all the evening would be singular
inappropriate now, but he was determined
not to lose another chance. Despite that
feeling and in sheer desperation he gasped,
Mary, let us woes our mutual sorrows
always"
| Mary looked puzzled. For moment
she didn't seem to grasp the purport OF
the misquoted sentence. When it dawned
upon her flood of crimson passed over
her face, her eyes fell, and she whispered,
i"Yes."