Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-12-28
THE CITY EDITORS WOOING,

nance - that office Still since the
Squall had succumbed to the modern
march of events, and had taken a girl
upon its force, we felt that even that
contingency might arise, foreign though
it may be to the grim surroundings.
Never since the SquaIl began it's exis-
tence, had it been confronted with bit
of genuine sentiment Nevertheless,
the tar-slghted and experienced among
us prophesied it's coming. There we're
various signs and tokens that pointed
toward romance, they claimed.
1t might not mean much that ribald
notices and ambiguous couplets had
| been torn down from their time-hon-
ored positions on the yellow walls; tn at
McDuf, the sporting editor, had been
| induced to part with some of the start
| ling decorations that had once made his
desk the admiration and envy of the
| callow reporter, or that the boys in
vested to a man in bombazine flee
| coats.
The fact the best corner in the local
| room was reserved for the girl, that her
| pencils were sharpened, her mucilage
bottle respected, and her ears zealously
guarded against profanity-even these
| ChlhSo hliS1IG hOL uhN0 llt1o l1uCA
| canoe.
1t did mean something, however, that
| Miss Grey-that was the girls name.
| Agnes Grey-learned trick Of BRUSHING
and getting entangled in the parts of
| English speech when certain members
Of the force addressed her. 1t meant
more-that Glider, the city editor, who
OF all men should have respected the
trust placed in him, acquired the habit,
alter some months, Of devotedIy MUIR
muring Blossom" in tone intended
to reach only Miss Grey's ears when
that young person came into The room
rosy and sparkling from some assign
ment.
But the city editor was young. So was
Miss Grey, and pretty into the bargain.
1t was pretty comedy for disinter
ested audience to watch; an idyll,
played out by youth and grace, by fleet
ing smiles and tender glances, by love
and fear and success against the uncOm-
promising, dun-colored background af-
forded by the old Squall office.
With ten active, vigilant men in the
local room, it is not much wonder that
we were almost as we'll acquainted with
the details OF the affair and it's progress
as the two people most interested. We
knew the air with which the city editor
put on his overcoat when he was going
to meet the girl after some lecture or
rece Dtion which she had attended in
the interest OF the press-the hesltating,
retrospective air. SO different from his
usual alert, decisive movement.
We knew, too, the very hour when
they first went to coffee together to the
Sign of the Big Kettle, that elysium OF
polished mahogany, blue Canton china,
and intoxicating arOmaS that only
Bohemia Is familiar with.
We were not even deceived when we
saw on the assignment book that Miss
Gray was doing special" work on GER
tain evenings in the silly season, con-
sequently we were not surprised when
we saw her walking with the city editor
on these very evenings.
However keen the enjoyment, how
ever deep the satisfaction most Of Us felt
in all this, it was certainly hard on poor
old MeDuf, who made a iamentable
failure Of praise worthy endeavOr to
preserve a Spartan-like composure in
the face of 1t.
The day they splashed down Exton
Street in broad sunshine with a large
family umbrella spread carefully above
their happily unconscious heads, he
writhed perceptibly.
That night somebody overheard Miss
Grey counting up the buttons on the
city editors overcoat SCHOOLGIRL fashion:
erich man, poor man, beggar man,
thief''-stopping significantly just there,
he threw up his position on the paper.
Bills are bills, though; sports are
sports, and a position is a position,
especially when one is we'll acquainted
with the melancholy years that follow
40 or so. And McDuf came back next
day, grimmer, more repressed, more
taciturn than ever.
His endurance brought its own re-
ward.
Whether it was 80 ordained merely
that he might have brief period Of
satisfaction or that the good old saw
about the course of true love might
have fresh witness to its inevita bic truth,
we never could decide. At all events,
there was o quarrel; not a lingering,
fnical. hypocritical lovers wrangle, but
sharp, sudden, decisive difference,
which spread look of cold Indifference
like a mask over elders face, and gave
Miss Grey an accession OF dignity that
made her fairly formidable.
To say that We were aghaSt at this
miserable interruption Of our romance,
this ruthless tumbling down of our air
castles about our ears, but family ex-
presses the Offices frame of mind.
Then there was nothing to do, however,
but await developments, and that, with
what patience we could summon, we did.
For two weeks Glider was calm and
slightly contemptuous in his bearing
toward the world in general; Miss Grey
deprecatory and a little Respondent in
| spite of the dignity.
At the end of the third week she al
! lowed herself to be diverted by the
| frantic efforts the younger members of
the force made to that end, and she
smiled at old McDuff. The city editor,
seeing this, stifened.
| Early in the fourth week, Miss Grey
| found a bunch of violets on her desk
when she reported for afternoon work,
whereat she flushed, looked pleased,
buried her face in them and fastened
them to her dress. Glider, who evil
IDENTITY hadn't sent them, watching her
from the tail of his eye, looked black.
The next day there was handful of
carnations matching her soft cheeks.
After that roses and heliotropes, Mar
guerites and lilies of the valley, then
violets again. There were never very
many flowers, but just enough to wear,
chosen with evident care and thought
fulness-a daily offering.