Evening journal., 1891-08-21
With the poor agent who had the rheumatic

with the poor agent who had the rheumatic
fever.
"rhen you are not sorry to goy' ne wins
pered. you will not miss meS
Lydia Eastwater tied the yellow bow once
mora It was getting into deeper twi-
light. The one bar OF red in the west was
all there was left Of the day. She hit at a
moth that huttered by in the dusk.
why. yes, shall care. shall care very
much indeed" She looked straight at
him, and the red In the west got into her
cheeks. Clyrner started forward throb-
bling with a new life. He forgot all about
the first act and even about the fifth one
All he saw was girls eyes. All he felt
was her soft lips.
Then the other players came walking
across the lawn in the twilight. and the
next day Miss Eastwater went away.
Clymer wrote to her, of course He stole
the time In which to do this from the
county. But the answers were not just
what he had expected they would be.
They were full of pleasant gossiping and
even Of the expression OF those girlish
opinions which most young maidens hold,
and which so strongly resemble copybook
notices. But she said very little of just
the sort Of thing that Clymer desired her
70 say. He consoled himself by looking at
every applicant for license who thrust
his face in at the little window and reflect
ing:
"Ahl my man, you look happy now.
But know what you have been through
You may not believe il, but myself have
experienced the rapture OF a fitting close
to the first act, and am now In the midst OF
the perplexities which are so necessary TO
the progress Of the play. My dear fellow.
take this filed out blank with my blessing
It looks very commonplace, perhaps, to the
uninitiated. But you and are perfectly
aware that il is the passport 10 heaven"
None OF these remarks were audible, of
course. They were the combined sollo-
quies Of Clymer the lover and Clymer the
clerk. The man who supplied the Office
with legal blanks stood aghast at this time
at the number consumed in what was tech
nically known as Cupid's department.
They seemed so remarkably in excess Of
the number Of applications recorded that
the clerk might, with some show of JUS
tice, have been accused OF throwing them
into the waste basket.
And ii is true that they did 90 there but
not until deal Of labor had been expend-
ed upon them, not until the blank spaces
revealed the fact that Clymer Ames, who
lived In a certain city, township, county
and state, and who was of such and such
an age, and without legal hindrance or in
cumbrance OF a martial sort, received here
with permission from the clerk TO marry
Miss Lydia Eastwater, whose qualifications
were then set down.
Under this practice Clymeris handwrit-
ing, which had previously brought him in
some contempt, became beautiful. Who
could write the name of'I.ydia Eastwater"
and remain indifferent co his LIS and ESP
The clerk even wrote some lines in his face
till it ceased to resemble the blank leaf Of
one Of his ledgers-but OF this he was quite
unconscious. These lines signihed good
things, but not in the least such good
things as one reads In the copybooks
They did not say that honesty was the best
policy. But they said that the heart of
man is flower full Of perfume and beauty,
which opens in the sunlight of a woman's
love.
Lydia Eastwater, aged pSneteen, Of the
county off, when will the clerk ever get
through with his weeks work when he has
so much extraneous laborY
One day stranger entered the 0ffice-a
fine fellow, with an elision O. the ''r' and
a swing in the gait.
Man OF Importance, Of, property, of
himself after his usual manner Of sum
ming up his customers.
Il want a marriage license" said the
young man gayly and peremptorily.
'Name," said the clerk, trying to be per
functory, but actually 6hrobbing with
sympathy with this happy young animal.
ALFRED Sidney Johnson Clayton"
Shame OF ladyW
Lydia Earnestine Eastwater."
The clerk went on filing out the rest Of
the blank and did not move a muscle. The
lover-but there was no lover except the
young man who went cut swinging his
shoulders as he went.
And so the pace Of Cupid's servitor be-
came, as was mentioned at first. hike a
batch Of bread made from stale yeast. And
though he works for love, he and his clerk
do not speak when they meet, and the
capricious Boy has even been seen TO fold
his wings closer about him with an air Of
contempt when he looked at Clymer Ames,
clerk of the court and issuer Of marriage
licenses. w. Peattiein Omaha World
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