Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-02-11


how came to want an escort.
Bernard smiled good naturedly. ''Then |
you had only fixed sum, he asked, ''to |
make your European tour WITH"
That is so, sir" Melissa answered, |
looking up at him quizzically through |
those pretty gray spectacles. "rd put
away quite little sum of my own to
make this trip upon. It was my only
chance of seeing Europe and improving
myself little. knew when starteu
couldn't 90 all the round trip with the
rest Of my party, but / thought I'd set
out with them anyway and go ahead as
long as my funds held out, and then
when was through I'd turn about and
come home again"
''But you put away the money your.
selfY Lucy asked, with little start of
admiring surprise.
''Yes, ma'am," Melissa answered sage
ly. 81 know it. I saved it."
"From your allowance" Lucy sug
gested from the restricted horizon oi
her English point of view.
Melissa laughed a merry little laugh
Of amusement. "Oh, no." she said;
''from my salary"
''From your salaryr' Bernard put Ia,
looking down at her with an inquiring
glance
"Yes, sir; that's it" Melissa answered,
all unabashed. "You see, for four years
was clerk in the postofice." She pro-
nounced it ''clurk," but that's detail.
''Oh, indeedr' Bernard echoed. He
was burning to know how, 1 could see,
but politeness forbade him to press Me-
hssa on so delicate point any farther.
Melissa, however, herself supplied at
once the missing information. "My fa-
ther was postmaster in our CITY," she
said simply, under the last administra-
tion-President Blanco's, you know
and he made me one of his clerks OF
course when he'd gotten the place, and
as long as the fun went on saved all
my salary for tour in Europe"
"And at the end of four years" Lucy
said.
"Our party went out" Melissa put III
confdentially. $50 when the trouble
began my father was dismissed, and /
had just enough left TO take me as far as
Rome, as l told you"
Twas obliged to explain parenthetical-
ly, to allay Lucy's wonderment, that in
America the whole personnel of every
local government Office changes almost
completely, with each incoming presi-
dent.
"That's so, sir" Melissa assented, with
wise little nod. ''And as 1 didn't
think it likely our folks would get in
again in a hurry-the country's had
enough Of us-I just thought I'd make
the best Of my money when I'd got it"
"And you used it all up in giving
yourself O holiday in Europe?" Lucy ex
claimed, half reproachfully. To her
economic British mind such an expendl-
ture of capital seemed horribly wasteful
eyes, ma'am," Melissa answered, all
unconscious of the faint disapproval i'm.
piled in Lucy's tone. "You see, I'd
+@never been anywhere much away from
Kansas City before; and thought this
was special opportunity to go abroad
and visit the picture galleries and cathe-
drals of Europe, and enlarge my mind
and get a little culture. To us glimpse
of Europe's an intellectual necessary"
"Oh, then, you regarded your visit as
largely educational?" Bernard put in
with increasing interest. Though he's
fellow and tutor Of Kings, will read
lily admit that Bernards personal tastes
| lie rather in the direction of rowing and
football than of general culture; but
still, the American girls point of view
decidedly attracted him by it's novelty
in q woman.
''That's SO, sir" Melissa answered
once more in her accustomed afirma-
tive. II took it as a sort of university
trip. graduated in Europe. In Amer
lea, of course, wherever you go, all you
can sees everywhere just the same,
| purely new and American. The Ian
guage, the manners, the type don't vary;
in Europe you cross frontier or rib
bon of sea, and everything's different.
Now, on this trip of ours, we went first
to Chester, to glimpse typical old Eng
| lish town-those Rows, oh! how lovely
and then to bennington, for Wa
wick castle and Kenilworth. Kenil-
worth's just glorious, isn't it?--with it7
moldering red walls and its dark green
ivy, and the ghost of Amy Robsart walk.
ing up and down upon the close shaven
English grass plots"
''Pve heard it's very beautiful" Ber-
nard admitted gravely.
"What! You live so close and you've
never been there?" Melissa exclaimed in
frank surprise.
Bernard allowed, with smile, he had
been SO culpably negligent.
i Sand Stratford-on-Avon too!'' Melissa
went on enthusiastically, her black eyes
beaming. "Isn't Stratford just charm,
ing? don't care for the interminable
Shakespeare nuisance, you know-that's
all too new and made up. We could
raise Shakespeare house like that II
Kansas City any day; but the church
and the elms, and the swans and tht
riverl made such a sweet little sketcl
of them all, so soft and peaceful. A
least, the place itself was as sweet as
corner Of heaven, and tried as well a
could in my way to sketch it."
| II suppose it is very pretty" Bernard
replied in meditative tone.
Melissa started visibly. "What! hav
you never been there either" she ex
claimed, taken aback. "Well, that
odd nowl You live in England, ant
have never run over to Stratford-on
Avon! Why, you do surprise me! But
there! I suppose you English live in tn
midst of culture, as it were, and can ge
to it all right away at any time; SO, per
haps, you don't think quite as much o
it as we do, who have to save up ou
money, perhaps for years, to get, 70
once in our lives, just single passinj