Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1888-05-17
Popping the Question.
BY CHARLES ]. PATTERTON.

We have a dear little cousin-halr
rose. bud, half liIy!-who leases us when-
ever we meet, to tell her how the qnes-
ton is popped. She Is but fourteen,
but in these days, betw"en boarding.
schools and balls, girls OF that age are
as knowing as their grand mothers We're
at twenty. We suppose she wants to
learn in time so as to be ready for the
first chance that offers. Dear girl -
she little imaglnes that the question
usually rops itself. Young folks
require no aid in such pleasant cmer-
gencics-only give two lovers fair play,
and send your matchmaking aunts and
the children to Coventry-and our word
for it some evening when least expect
ed, the question will pop out like cork
from a champaign bottle. We would
Give our fair cousin some instructions II
we could but she would probably for
get them al, and find her heart in her
throat besides, when the question came
to be popped to herself So we will
content ourselves with a story which
she MuY think true or not, as he likes.
Kate Spencer was one olyour denclcatc
yixeus that steal away the heart with
merry laugh, pair of bright eyes
or an hour Of playful raillery. She
was bit of a ilirt, as indeed what girl
named Kate is not? There's fatality
about that cognoncn. E7ery Kate |
have known has taken to coquetting ;Is
naturally as a cat to canary birds.
Kate Spencer was wltching Great
ure. If You could have seen her bound
ing across the lawn, or gathering "lld
flowers to aiurn her hair, or heard her
warbling some merry lay in the morn
ing, YOU would have worship her as
YOU would worship a Rosallnd, or an
Ariel, for she seems to be a compond
Of both. 1t love she laughed :: at was
Il trap for tools' she said. But people
who make traps, sometimes are the first
to fall into them.
Kate was in her eish taenth summer
when her boso1a friend, Lucy Wharton
was married land Kate was bridesmaid.
Her partner, Harry Neville, was fine
dashing fellow, with pretty estate,
and commission in the army. lie AND
Kate We're we'll matched He cared no
more for her raIlery than for . McXl-
can battery ana, in fact, her wit was
to his, like the trumpet to the Wtr-horse
1t did one good to see IA passage OF arms
between them. But being bridesmaid
and groomsman is Il dangerous rccrea-
ton. Marrying, like the yellow fever
s an infe lttiOus dnsease, and one never
catches it so quickly as at another S
wedding If | was a young bachelor,
and wished to remain ole, / would rum
TO the worlds end rather than wait on
pretty girl. You may picnic with a
seraph or sleigh with a hourl, but be
! no groomsman with Il sensible glrl like
Kate Spencer was. Harry Neville
however, was boom proof to such things
at least he considered Himself so, and
had been hitherto. Besides he had
been told Kate Spence- was 1ilrt, and
he he was on his guard.
And how was it with Kate: Deal
COZ have you ever seen Irritation be-
gun in fun and ended in earnest? Kate
was Aatte red by haying a partner like
Harry Ne Vile, and pat forth all he1
powers of pleasing, resolute to bring the
filtration to close before there was
danger; but firtations, like through
oreds, sometimes run away With you +;
andiso, at weeks end, what between
the customary attentions OF Il grooms
man, and something peculiar to HAIRY
Kate began to be interested in her com
panion more than she chose to confess.
The wedding was held in the coun'
/ try, in tue midst Of rich district, ant