Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1891-04-17
JAMES ATTEMPT.
BY TON p. MORGAN.

MISS Langf
"Then, fear you will be long time
in coming, Mr.. Atchisonw
Then the young fellow whacked the
old fence beside him SO fiercely with the
stick he had picked up as he came to the
trysting place that the catbird in the
iii tangle just over the fence jumped
out of her nest with squawk of wild
alright and went blundering away in the
gathering dusk, while the wielder of the
stick turned his back upon the girl and
trudged down the hill with unnecessarily
heavy steps.
"NIiss" Lang! "Mr." Atchisonl The
catbird, who had witnessed many a
meeting at the old gate since she began
her nesting in the lilacs, has never be-
fore heard the young people address
each other with such ceremonious exac-
titudc.
1t had been 'Janie" and "Phil" till
the catbird, perhaps with some of the in
stincts of a matchmaker, has grown
complacently accustomed to their meet
ings. The young people had had oc-
casional "tiffs," to be sure, but never
before such quarrel as this.
Phil Atchison did not look back as he
tramped away, and jamie tossed her
short little curls and hurried toward the
house.
"Phil is $3.50 commonplace, and"
There was little catch in her murmur
as she told herself so, in spite of the
fierceness with which she forced herself
to believe that she was glad it was all
over between them.
Perhaps Phil was commonplace. But
it was only of late that jamie had dis
covered it. 1t had not been so very long
ago that she had thought his honest face
something very much better than COM
monplace and his homely talents more
than ordinary. There was much of the
inventor about this young fellow, who
was continually pottering with some
novel contrivance of his own conception,
and but little while ago jamie had
pridefully regarded him as destined to
accomplish great things.
But that was before her inspiration had
come to her, showing her, as it gradually
opened her eyes to her own possibilities,
how commonplace Phil really was. To
be sure, he was an inventor-as far as in
tent went, at least-but as yet he had
never succeeded in accomplishing any,
thing in particular, and probably, she
decided, never would. Besides this, he
was intensely, almost disgustingly, prac-
tical. jamie loved poetry, particularly
4, L., @l..& IaI
tressingly about unrequited love and such
sad themes. But Phil cared little for it,
even, upon the night of the quarrel,
going SO far as to snort contemptuously
at one of her most soulful and wailful
selections.
Phil was all well enough in his way,
but there was little of the heroic about
him, unless, indeed, it might have been
in the reckless way in which he placed
himself in the power of some of his ex-
periments.
When she broached part of it Phil
had promptly scoffed at her inspiration
and his skepticism, or at least lack of
sympathy with her ambition, had been a
prime factor in bringing about the sepa-
ration. Slow-going Phil, outside of his
inventing, had no yearning beyond the
having of commonplace little home,
with jamie as its little mistress. This
prospect had seemed very alluring to her
till the coming of her inspiration had
whispered to her that she was worthy of
better things and then that she was capa-
BILE of attaining them.
She wanted-well, she hardly knew
definitely just what she did want, but it
was something that the prospect of be-
ing the mistress of quiet little Eome
did not promise. In the big, bright
world beyond the village there were
many opportunities and
Her discomfort began to grow as
rapidly as her ambition expanded. Phil
promised cheerfully that, as the invention
proved the success that he fondly hoped
it would be, they would exhaust some Of
the pleasures of the great, bright world.
But jamie, impatient at his awkward
sympathy and his scoffing at her poetical
quotations about hearts bowed and am
bitions unclaimed, scoffed in turn at his
prospects. The invention, she said
scornfully, would probably amount to nc
more than its predecessors-fantastie
failures, all of them. And
And so matters went on from bad tt
worse till the quarrel was followed by
the parting and jamie and her ambition