The Portland daily press., 1891-06-05
WHO DID THE woouNc;?,

proposed to Jim Simpkins.
How the story got afoat no one exact
~ knew, for Martha certainly never told
IT herself, and as for James, he was
never known in the whole course of his
existence to have told anything. Any
how, the report got afoat, and soon
every one far ana near was talking about
1T, and at every candy pull and "sugarin'
Off some one was bound to bring up the
subject, and then the question was asked,
"Did Martha Ann really propose?"
The facts in the case were that Martha
Ann and James were engaged. Both
Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Simpkins had given
this news to the world at Aunt Jane
Wormley's meeting of the Big Creek La
dies aid. 1t was further generally
agreed that James never had spunk
enough to speak for himself, so it really
became an oppressive mystery to the
good people of the section.
But all these wonderings and suppcsi-
tions would have been cleared up had
they been able to look into the generous
heart of Martha Ann as she sat by the
western window of the kitchen doing
crochet work, and looking ever and anon
over across the snow fields to the Simp-
kins farmhouse, behind which a sturdy
figure could be seen Justify swinging
an AK.
And this was James.
Martha Ann was as comely girl as
any in the district, and as Uncle Billy
Mason, the master of the postoffice and
village emporium, averred, "by far the
likeliest."
Martha Ann was good to look at. She
was not handsome. She was not pretty.
Her eyes were neither bright black nor
soft blue. Her hair had no poetic tenden-
cies. Her figure was neither statuesque
nor petite; nevertheless, Martha Ann
was a mighty pleasant girl to see. She
seemed to have a way of growing on
one, for her voice was always musical,
and her smile ever cheerful and encour-
aging.
She was now probably twenty seven
years of age-perhaps younger-it doesn't
matter. She was woman, healthy, en-
ergetic, farmers daughter who had
worked all her life and was proud of it,
who had twice taken first prize at the
county fair for bread, and had won a
medal at the same institution for a patch
work quilt. She had made all her own
clothes since the day she was sixteen,
and besides that she could play an organ
all round the other girls.
That was big day in the life of Mar
tina Ann when her father came home
with six stop organ on thewood sleigh.
Such beauty as it was, too, with ele-
CANT bracket trimmings and cute little
rack on top for books and music. 1t
wasn't five minutes after that organ
struck the parlor before Coronation"
and "The Battle of Waterloo" were roll
ing through the house with so sublime
and altogether magnificent a tone that
Mother Todd dropped right down on the
haircloth sofa, all in her old clothes, too,
and cried, refusing to be comforted un-
til Martha Ann played few bars of
Nearer, My God, to Thee"
But self confident as Martha Ann was,
she had for five years now been floating
on a sea of conjecture as to what Jim
Simpkins really meant by coming over
to the house and talking politics with
her father, and 'seeing" her home from
church every Sunday night. She some
how could not locate James in her list of
certainties.
For long time Martha Ann seriously
doubted whether he loved her or not,
and it was not till she felt in her heart
that she was all in all to him that she
began to scheme how to make it easy for
James to propose.
For months she labored over this prob
lem. Every once and awhile of Sunday
evening, as they strolled home together
by the creek, she would throw out a
'feeler," but he never understood. Dur
ing all this time she made herself as at
tractive as she knew how, and played
her sweetest pieces on the organ, with
no further result than getting him used
10 sitting on haircloth chair without
desiring to tip it back against the wall,
as was his custom with the kitchen fur
niture.
Although all her schemes came to
naught Martha Ann never lost heart.
She was sure of one thing, and that was
that James was dying to ask her, but
lOO bllC iOOhCA etb ~
proper that she should help him out.
The nearest he had ever come to say
ing something vital was on day in the
preceding fall when he had come over to
ueIp ner PICK some grated apples. These
apples were SO large and precious that
the greatest care had to be taken in
gathering them. On this occasion James
was up amid the branches Of the tree on
q stepladder, and Martha Ann stood on
the ground, catching each apple, one by
one, in her apron.
Whether looking up so continuously
heightened her eoloring or not, James
thought she had never looked so beauti-
full and altogether wQmanly before, and
he registered an oath in his heart, for he
never swore, that, $50 help him Uncle
John Rogers, he would ask her the min
nte he got down." He even got quite
brilliant up there on the ladder, and
actually joked, while Martha Ann
beamed one continuous smile.
Finally he gathered all the apples in
his reach, and so had to come down to
get new position. But with each down.
ward step, down went his courage, and
it was only by superhuman effort that
he managed to say:
you're lookin' purtier'n all git out,
Martha Ann"
Martha Ann blushed crimson at so di-
rect a compliment, for she felt that the
hour had come.
"You're always a-fatterin' me, James"
she said.
Couldn't say too much for-you-
know-you-bnow- Guess I'd better
move the ladder ter the south side the
tree, wouldn't your
Martha Ann could have cried then and
there. James said no more, and the
apple gathering went ON in silence.
But now, at the time l am writing
about, they were actually engaged, and
the reader will probably come to the
conclusion that Martha Ann must have
proposed, just as the worthy gossips of
the Big Creek section figured. The
facts are as follows:
Martha Ann decided firmly on eli
max. Either James or she must speak.
If she could induce him to declare his
love, all well and good; if not, she must
draw him out. If he would not draw,
she must tell him the old story herself.
No strategist could have planned finer
campaign.
1t was the evening of Easter Sunday.
The day had been bright and sunny. The
services at the church had been inspir-
ing, and James had come home with her
for supper.