Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-07-21
PORTIA. JUNIOR .

MORE OR LESS OF 4 FAIRY TALE.
yohn Eeadrick Banqs. IN Hafper Heekiy
PORrIA was nineteen. and princess
bY virtue OF her beauty and ability.
Her father was learned even-tempered,
and unpreposs 'sslng; her mother hand
some and Of equable temperament, but
not unduly knowledgabe which NAV
aeeot at for the fact that Portia herself,
whila Of the intellt ctually beautiful
type, was not supercliouslv lovely, as
Is So often :he case with women similar
liz gifted She could talk with man
without compelling him 70 feel his own
ignorance, and, Of course. this made
her excessively popular with the male
portion of The community in which she
lived: but, rarer sltll. Portia endeared
herself so 20 women that plain girls,
despite her beauty. loved To be with
her. She had way of making them
feel that her beauty lelracted from
rather than enhanced their planncss.
as though she shed the glamour of her
personality on all those about her. Just
rs the sun sometimes seeks out the dark
corners of the earth, and makes gloom
itself seem the source Of light. Withal
Portia was not conscious OF her prepos-
sessing qualities, and went her way
through life as simply. rs quietly, and
rs sensibly as she could.
That she could have princes dancing
attendance upon her by the score was
not surprising; that she should have
her preferences for certain princes was
equally to be expected: that she should
have a. least two particular princes
who wished her to be theirs was not
startling; and yet, sensible as Portia
was, when these gallant gentlemen
made known their matrimonial hopes
10 her, she was startled That. | think.
was the only commonplace thing about
Portia. To be startled by so lnsigniti-
cant an episode as two proposals on the
same evening is quite in the line of
woman way
But Porta had an excuse for her EN-
barrassment, which most women have
not. and that excuse was not until
Prince Henry proposed marriage to her
that she realized how much she cared
for Prince John, nor did she awaken to
the fact that she had very warm place
in her heart for Prince Henry until
Prince John asked her the same quest
ion that had been put by his rival just
two hours previously To neither could
she say no; to neither could she say yes
surely here was dilemma! Il is my
own opinion that most women would
have solved the problem 10y quarrelng
with both princes, and marrying a
third; and man similarly placed would
have settled it by the toss of coin,
ait Il
blance nor penny-tossing was one of
her accomplishments. Frankness was,
aud she toli the two gentlemen as
plainly as she could Just how matters
stood.
IL think | love you both, she
said And so, OF course. cannot
marry either OF you at present Time
alone can tell which Of the two love
the better
Most girls would have said (Which Of
the two | love the best 1t was in
matters of this sort that Portia showed
her erudition
Come back in live years, she al ded,
aud will decide between you Mean
while YOU should both bestir yourselves,
tor by that which Nou achieve are my
feelings likely to oe influenced Ordt-
narlv Il question Of this kind is settled
on the basis of love and affection
Here tbe love and affection being in
bo.h cases equal, it becomes a question
Of those qualtie, pig, the unknown
quality that must decide
1t depends then, said Prince Iohr,
upon that unknown quantity
y es replied Parua
Blu ,upposlng this unknown guam
tity turns out to be a third prince
suggested Prince Henry
The advantage IS with Non, re-
turned Portia You have the start on
AIM Ii he overtakes aud passes YOU,
am not to blame
And the two princes went out init
the world and stroye.
Prince John devoled himself aSSidu
ouslN to many things, and succeeded II
all. He became LAWYER of Recognized
standing, not alone of respectability
bat OF marked ability. In or out o
court Prince ,Iohn was sure to win any
cause to which his energies were dev0t
ed. vet 50 fearful was he of not ulu
mately realizing the ideals Of the still
undecided Portis, that be branched on
into literature He wrote noval tina
even pleased the critics His work wa
discussed seriously bN The pulpit, an,
although while writing has novel he has
no idea that such VA. 10 be the case, h
found himself SIX months after the pub
lication Of his great work hailed as Till
father III new philosophy. 10 coun
seract the effect Of his uoya. which
While gratifying, WIS not exactly TO hi