Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1892-01-22
A FAIR JilT.

Here, here, cheer up, old boy.
There are as good fish in the sea as
ever came out"
A ghost Of smile ilumined Greco
ry Moore's face as he listened, per
haps for the fiftieth time, to this e1-
ceedingly trite attempt at consoa-
ton
Granted, my dear fellow; but when
the tackle breaks after ou've played
a fish four years it doesn't seem worth
while to 90 on deep sea fishing
Was it four years affair p asked
Reginald Dawson, iii surprised tone,
such extraordinary constancy being
almost beyond his comprehension. Il
had no idea it had lasted anything
like so long"
-Four Years" repeated Greg, dole
fully, I'VE were engaged-before she
was seventeen. What was she? A
nobody earned her living by singing
in sort of choir. Parents poor. She
was uncommouly pretty, and | fell
head over heels in love with her. |
ought TO have married her"
"Why on earth didn't you p
Il dare not risk il, old boy. It's all
very well to say what will keep one
will keep two. Just figure it out, and
you'll find it won't. l was doing pref
ty well when | first saw her about
three hundred year-but | wanted
to do better, so | threw up my jour.
nalistic work and when in for fiction
free lance business, you know"
well p
Il just about kept myself in clothes
and cigars the first year, and | was
six months before | earned a penny
couldn't press her to share that,
could ?"
No. Bread and cheese and kisses
are all very well in theory, but you
can't live on them"
II would have risked it if had been
sure OF the future. The fact is, / got
down hearted thought | was going
to be failure, a d | dare say was
not quite so attentive lover as had
been. Well things greatly improved.
| could see daylight. Presently the
sun shone, and | pressed her TO mar
ry me
And she refused p
No; some confound"d person had
discovered that she possessed splen-
did voice. and induced her to have it
properly trained. She put me off :;
said she wanted a name before she
married advised NE TO wait; assured
ne ihing would ever change her ;
she would marry me- or nobody. |
,n- -, o.. -pa'i-nt a'd work hard
,Iuu d advice, bar I'll defy fellow n
Lard nir a. was to br patient To
cut it short. her voice turned out
success; she became popular, the
rage Her portraits got into the shop
windows. She was made much of
wherever she went. ! failed to keep
pace with her and now she's an ora
torio singer and engaged TO banker,
while I-well-I have wished some
body would shoot Inc through the
head and put me out Of my misery.
All the light has gone out Of NV life.
| have no interest in my work. and no
energy. So long as | can earn enough
to pay my landlady l don't care The
worst of il is my reckless mood j. re-
fected in NV work. Here'-and Greg
took packet Of Ms. from the table
lis Declined with thanks Being
an old contributor. the editor has
obliged me with the reason why. AL
together too cynical. Insufficient love
interest You may not know it. but
a magazine story without love inter
est is like a roly-poly pudding with
the jam left out. The public wants
the jam and will have ii or go without
the pudding, and how am TO write
OF faith and trust and the love that
never dies, hut comes ur smiling every
spring! | can't do IT, BY the by, il
ever you get desperately fond OF a
woman. keep her under your ewes in
the spring Of the year. It's danger
GUS time"
why more so than autumn, or sum
mer. or winter?
Ask the poets. / know it and they
know it. aud fhis * the truth the poet
sings But | weary von with my tale
Of woe =
mo. / dare say il does Won good 70
relieve your mind l wish | could
,h-lp you. old fellow. Where is Rosie
now p
I'm the north OF England. visiting
the bankers friends. | have been
thinking OF trip 70 Australia. Bur
| must shake off this awful depres-
sion. Now, what would you dof'
Reginald Dawson was rising,