The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1891-01-29

have done to send this to cross-eyed
Dulcinea. And one had to be careful in
using it to select the right slot. Imag-
Inc the quandary of a young husband
who by mistake sent Acceptance to
lunch to his wife instead of Must work
on the books tonight
This brings me to my romance-the
lamentable ending which carelessness
brought to the wooing of the charming
Sallie Manton by the ardent but nerv-
Gus George Blittins."
''Oh, thought you had forgotten all
about that" said l. And did you
dream it?"
Certainly" he replied, rather grufly.
do you?"
A prompt denial smoothed the rufled
feathers of my friend Smith, and so he
resumed
George Blifins was good-looking
young fellow of three and twenty, well
formed and manly, as he had often
proved himself in athletic sports. He
was popular with his fellows, and so
the correlative was true that before
women he was little more than a bash
full BOBBY. Some day may explain to
you the growth of this characteristic in
men, that the favorite of their sex is
the britt of the other, and vice versa,
but now l will only say that its ex-
istence can not be refuted.
"Now, George never appreciated that
his fingers were thumbs, his checks
were full of fire, his eyes were apt to
water, his back was streaked with
shivers, each individual hair on his
head was alive with nerves, the mus
Giles of his face were prone to twitch,
and his full bass voice to squeak, ex-
cept when he was in the presence of
the ladies, and then he always did.
And yet he loved, and wisely too, as
family and friends deemed. Sallie
Manton was a veritable little fairy of
seventeen, as sweet as the first bloom
of arbutus. She had always lived next
door to him. Her parents were most
intimate with his own; they were rich,
and she was an only child. He and she
had thus been brought up together, and
if any young man had reason to look
upon maid with the careless familiar
ity of brother to a sister, he was the
young man.
And yet he didn't. He didn't keep
his seat when she was standing, nor put
his feet on her worSted work, nor clean
his pipe with her ostrich plume. He
never gruffly contradicted her nor
answered her arguments by the axiom
that girls were fools anyway. He even
failed to ridicule her ideals or to dub
her beliefs hypocrisy; and SO of course
he didn't.
"He had no rival save one, and him
he did not fear. The handsome young
curate of St. Anne's, it is true, beamed
, beseechingly upon her in a most pal
pable fashion, but he had an impedi-
mcnt in his speech, and George realized
that Sallie's merry laughter would ex-
| tinguish any proposal from him before
he had half suffered through it. Be-
! sides, he knew in his heart that she only
waited his asking. Why, she had al
most asked him herself in the thousand
different ways in which woman can
speak her thoughts and yet be silent
Perhaps you don't follow me? Are not
! with smiles? Hath not a tremulous
little hand vocabulary of love? Ger
tainly, Georges mother often assured
him that Sallie wore her heart outside
her dainty bosom, and that his name
was engraved upon it.
"But George would recall the sticking
point, and there he always stuck. His
hands, his cheeks, his eyes, his back,
! his face, and his voice would rebel
1 against him, and he would become so
absorbed in the contem plation of the
enormity of their desertion that he
would straightway forget what he had
been about to say. How cruel it was
of them! When he debated The Beau
ties of Moral Courage before the room
, full of young men who composed the
A berdeen Philomathean Club, they
were his staunch allies, and he was
as cool as schoolmaster; but one
roguish CLEAN from her hazel eyes set
them quivering in confusion.
"He resolved to put his fate to the
touch with his pen. With infinite labor
and great impartiality he indited an
argumentative letter; but when he read
it over, con seemed so much stronger
than pro that he destroyed it lest he
should be hoist with his own petard.
He even attempted poetry; but heart
would only rhyme with part and dear
with fear and love with glove,
which reminded him of the mitten, and
so he desisted in despair.
HE grew SO thin and wan that his
parents dreaded lest he should be taken
for the Before of patent medicine,
and sent HIM to the city to recuperate,
Here, by an evil chance, one day he ran
across one of the universal letter.
writing machines. He read the printed
notice that SO accurately described It.
The very thing! With trembling fin
gers he pressed dime into slot, MOI
did he perceive that in his agitation he
had inserted it into Proposal thirty
five-ifty' instead of Proposal sixteen
twenty-two,' as was his intention. Out
came the precious missive, the stamped
envelope, the fountain pen on string
He started to read the tender words
but suddenly merry peals of laughter
summoned him from the pleasant task
He glanced over his shoulder. Horrors
A bevy of schoolgirls were approach
ing. Oh! if he should thus be caught
in the very act! Again his allies
sounded the retreat. He hastily signed
his name; he folded, sealed and directed
the fateful letter; he placed it within the
adjacent mail-box; he fed like the
wicked, since no man pursued him.
"Then he waited a day, week, q
month, and certainty changed into
hope, and then into dread. Why did nc
answer come? What could such silence
mean? Surely, such a popular panaces
could not have failed. Come, he would
at least know what he had sent. HI
again sought the machine; he procured
copy of Proposal sixteen to twenty
two AS he did so young man il
clerical dress brushed by him, inserted
dime in the self-same slot, received
the letter and stamped envelope, and
ignoring the fountain pen on a string
fastened away. When George after