The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1891-06-06
Halls ADVENTURES.
Ar Interesting Story of Love and
Many Mistakes.

$500 - 49,
What's up now" asked Jack, in
surprise.
81 have a great favor Ia ask of you
two ~favors, in fact. One is great anC
the other is greater"
"Go ahead, old fellow, I'm all in tn,
dark, but if it is possible | will gran
them. You know that, though, dom
you?" ,
II am not certain. But let us rctir'
TO some place more private" and the
two friends strollcd ~lcisurely into
the park, and, lighting their fragrant
HavanaS, they seated themselves com
fortably on one of the many rusti,
benches.
I'm ready now, Hal; out with it,
said Jack, Is he lazily pulled out tn,
blue smoke.
Il may as well own up that I an
such a blockhead hat | have to engage
a guardian for q week. and not caring
10 confess as much to anyone else
] have decided 10 ask you il you arr
willing to assume that terrible respon
sibility."
"A guardian, Hal? A guardian fol-
WHAT"
"Ah, thereby hangs n tale, which
will 500 relate. That is the greater
favor, and the great one is to be best
man for me in a little affair that is tc
come off next Wednesday,"
"A woman in the case, as usual" said
Jack. Il thought as much at first; bu,
i did not think that YOU were going Sc
deep as that"
YES, I'm in for it, and all I'm
afraid of is that | will commit some
cgrcgious blunder before | get through
with it. l have such COMPOUNDED luck. "
you have COMPOUNDED luck, when
even your name is Goodluck.."
"All the good luck | have il my
name. | believe ! would not curse my
luck so often if il was not for the name.
Hut what's in a Nance There is John
Poor. II there is anything in n name
he ought TO he submerged in poverty,
and he was for awhile. He had an in
valid wife and ten olive branches, rang
ing from " twig to Il limb. when an
uncle he had never more than heard of
died aud left him a fortune. That was
luck, and still his name was Poor.
Now i, bearing the seemingly charmed
name of GoodIuck, had all my ances-
tors turn up their toes and leave me
Goodluck plain, without a cent in the
shape of a legacy to back it"
Why, Hal. have you grown morbid
over destiny?'
mo, | don't groan over destiny; its
good luck that I'm g~roaning over.
Things seem To he growing brighter
lately. though. and if | can get safely
over the next four days | think | can
sail to port. but you'll have to be pilot
if | get there. This is not the first at
tack of the tender passion have had.
You look surprised, but such is the
fact. Here's the story:
Five years ago | met the girl who
first inspired in me the fever called
love. When | think of it | doubt if I'm
over it: but I've passed the crisis; it
don't matter. 1t was while | was at
Belden visiting my college friend,
George Walters, that | first met Mary
Shannon. We became friends, and our
friendship fast ripened into love. There
is no use of prolonging this part of the
story, for after love of course comes
marriage. But nv marriage did not
come. 1t was to occur, though, as we
had agreed, in December.
al came home de~liriously happy, and
worked hard To get the nest ready.
Everything went well, and December
drew near. The ceremony was to take
place at three p. m. on the 18th. As it
is one hundred miles from here, / in
tended starting the day before. But
here the first Of a series of misfortunes
met me. My tailor was to blame for
that one. | did not get nv outfit out
of his shop till ten a. n. on the eve of
the 18th. The difficulty looked small
then, as | knew / could take the six a.
m. train and reach Bclden in plenty of
time for the event. made NV way to
the depot that morning in a driving
storm of sleet: but | didn't mind that. |
Who cares for a storm when he's in
loveP The next misfortune was due to
one or something. no matter what
The real facts / don't know, but l do
know that the train was two hours
late. must have walked more than
half the distance to Belden in tramping |
up and down the platform waiting
for it At last, when | was almost be-
side myself with Impotence, it came
along and we were % flying
through the country at a good speed.
II knew that at such a rate ] would
Belden long enough before three
o'clock. was just beginning to con
graduate myself on my good luck when
the whistle for down brakes sounded,
and our train began to slow up. Win
were hastily thrown up, and soon
the cause of our stop was explained.
We had run into a big freight wreck.
Word had not reached the last sta
ton we had left in time to prevent our
starting. Consequently there we were,
in the country, with a dozen cars,
or less, piled up and scattered
over the track, while was sixty miles
rom Belden. That was the third mis-
fortune" and Hal wiped the perspira-