The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-23

OF sunrise lTol4 lIIs 1.I1.4, s44le. the palaces
| OF the Grand CzzA,, and would, In languish
/ ing terms, give him q counter yoR from
| that boudoir with It's alabaster lamps, etc
The next billet doux was entitled ''An
| Outburst Of Affection Upon Receipt Of the
| Above" and joel iianocent yoHthD placed
this heading, word for word, at the top OF
! his letter-a practice that Joan had hal.
| lowed In his mind by following herself
| Having dispatched his nissive he did not
wait for reply, but immediately turned
to his compendium and read it from begin
ming to end. How she loves me, he mur-
INJURED, kissing the dear words, and when
at last the letter came, and he compared it
with the blessed Lothario's text and found
every word, capital and punctuation mark
in the proper place, his JOY was uncon.
trolled.
And SO, letter by letter, step by step, the
loves Of Joel and Joan went sweetly and
smoothly on until only one note embody.
ing the important declaration and accept
anee, as mapped out in the compendium,
remained to eliminate their courtship: but
here most horrible chasm suddenly con.
fronted the stricken Joel. The leaf with
pages 153 and 154 containing the all inn
portant declaration, was gone! This dec
laratlcn lfcr such Joel esteemed it to bel
covered both sides Of the sheet and Tapped
over upon page 155. Several lines remained
on that page, but they served only for a
kind of polling off, as it were, Of ths
highly Important and delicate matter pre-
ceding them. What should Joel dor
He might do several things First, he
could call at Joan's home, procure her
compendium and read the letter direct.
Second, he could buy another compendium.
Third, having gone so far by rote, he could
throw Lothario over and go it alone.
Fourth, he could
His tirnidity would not permit the first.
AS for the second, not another copy of the
compendium was TO be had, and he lacked
confidence sufficient for the third-but the
fourthl That was the thing he would do.
He would copy all the declaration that 70
manned and send it ia letter Joan would
think he had neglected TO inclose the first
portion of it, and, having her book at
hand, she could readily supply the def
cheney. What a head Joel hadl What in
genuityi Certainly heschemed with skill
that merited better success.
Here is the last letter Joel ever wrote to
Joan:
and /, proud queen of passion, viii harbor my
bark in a kinder haven, blown thither by the
swelling sails of truer love and fonder devotion.
Adieu- JOEL
Contrary to all expectation, the daya
faded into weeks and weeks into months,
and all Joel received from Joan was a bun.
die of his old letters, but no word accom-.
panied them. Poor JoelI What could this
neglect mean? Why did not his loved one
Immediately pen him the words of theiI
patron? Why this chilling silence which
so steadily, cruelty, wrapped about his
young life and smothered it into despair?
When one year had flown, Joel throttled |
his forlorn hope, shock the sand of Cal |
houn county from his feet and sought to |
sink his sorrow in a lumber camp in the |
Upper Peninsula. He did not succeed, for, /
like some forbidding phantom, the un.
known cause Of JOan's sudden GOODNESS
haunted him night and day.
at last fate revealed the reason.
In an idle moment Joel happened upon |
book which belonged to a log driver named /
man whom everybody sus-
pected Of French descent. This book was
Lothario's Compendium In feverish haste
Joel turned the leaves. Yesi pages 1884 /
We're there. He read them:
answer to the Foregoing, Breaking off All Cor.
and Honorsby Renouncing further
Intercourse"
Miss --, find that you have tampered With
my feelings; that, not appreciating the weight oi
attachment bore you, you slighted it by receiv.
ing attention from others can no longer toler.
ate this wanton sacrifice Of nay tender passion.
NY manhood asserts Itself, and hasten to re-
nouuce the love that once truly gave you de-
mand a return of all my letters, my diamond ring
and my photograph,
With wildly beating heart and staring
eyes Joel skipped to the bottom of page 154
To you will ever be a brother; more cannot
be, for have found another who truly loves me
Ind whom, though 1 do not love as yet, viii in
lime set up in my heart In the place so recently
leld by yourself. You go your way with the gal
ants who have replaced me- in your breast.
Here followed the words which Joel had
written:
And l, proud queen Of passion, viii harbor my
oark in a kinder haven, blown thither by the
weliing sails Of truer love and .fonder devotion.
Adieu.
Joel sighed wearily; then, looking about
he shanty to see that he was unobserved,
le threw Lothario's Compendium into the
ire and watched it burn with grim salts
action.-William Wallace Cook in Free
Press.