St. Landry democrat., 1892-09-17
Jarvis uuIray's Campaign.
BY WILLIAM j. HENDERSON.

Some people would have said it wa
Florence Craven's own fault that she ha.
lost her faith in men. Perhaps som
people would have been right, and per
haps they would not However, that ha
nothing to do with this story. The fac
Is what concerns us and the fact is tina
Florence Craven did not believe mucl
IN women, either, but that also has moth
ing to do with this story. When Florenc,
was eighteen years old she had ideals;
Her idea of man was hot tha
he should be like Virgil's Dame
Rumor with his feet on the earth an6
his head among the stars. All she asked
was that man should be tall, handsome,
strong, kind of temper, patient, humble,
iorglvlng, earnest, sincere, affectionate,
industrious, clever with his hands, intel
lectual, and passionately in love with
her. 1t was not much for young girl to
ask, and SO Florence demanded it with
all her soul, with all her strength. And
the first thing she knew the man arrived.
He had the whole of The above cata-
logue of qualities excepting one. He
was not in love with Florence. That,
however, did not discourage her She
set out to make him love her 1t was at
summer resort that she met him. At
first he regarded her sprightly allure
ments with a sort of patronizing good
nature, which stirred Florence's spirits to
their depths. She vowed with deep
determination that she would bring him
back to her feet. Several times he
seemed to be on the point of saying
something very earnest to her, and then
the amused look would come into his
eyes and he would say something else.
This happened so often that Florence
became fiercely hungry for that earnest
utterance which always refused to come,
one night she even went up to her room
and wept bitter tears of vexetitn, Of
course, because he would not say it.
The next day she fished more vigorously.
They walked, danced, rode together.
The gossips of the hotel married them
regularly every day, still he did not say
1t. And Florence wished more than ever
to hear him say it.
Finally the end of the season came
The September breezes whispered around
the corners of the hotel and the Sentem-
Der stars looked down on piles of trunks
ready to be taken away the next morn
ing. That night he spoke. He said he
had been trying to tell her something all
summer, but his courage had failed him
every time. He felt that he had not been
quite right in keeping it to himself so
long, but she had made his summer so
pleasant that he had really been unable
before that minute to tell her that he was
going to be married that winter. His
sweetheart was In Europe and would be
home in about two weeks.
And that was the earnest remark of
the man who was tall, handsome, strong.
KIND OF temper, ct cetera.
Florence took it bravely as far as out
ward appearance went. She laughed in
his face and told him that she had known
it all along. Then she wished him inv
and ran upstairs. In the inviolate
secrecy OF her own room she fell fiat on
her face and staid there for two hours
At the end of that time she arose.
looked at herself in the mirror, and
smiled miserable smile. At that mo-
nent her ideals went out of the window
'nd were blown out to sea by the west
WIND The next day Florence Craven
vas man-hater and firt of the most
desperate character. For two years she
tut swath. Her change of heart was
most sincere. She simply despised men.
'he took pleasure in transfxing them
With the arrows of love and seeing them
s orf She had no more pity than
cal hunter, and she was as devoid of
ointment as Buffers "Analogy." She
lever made the slightest pretense. She
reated all men with sarcastic contempt
nd they seemed to like it. She counted
Ter victims by the score. She broke up
Engagements by the dozen. She made
egiments of girls jealous. She played
''enus Victrix to perfection, and had all {
he mothers in society wild with q 6
esire to cast her into the bottomless
it. {
All except one. Mrs. Chasby soden f
ad daughter who didn't 60 off. She q
ung fire dreadfully. The only man who b
ad ever shown disposition to gather v
er to himself had been switched off by
lie Unsuitable Florence Craven. who e
rung his head dry and then sent him Il
'cking. Then Mrs Chasby soden rose
> and said: T
"That Craven girl has got to be mar O
ed" 4
The only question was who was to fl
AIRY here Mrs. Chasby Soden studied h
at problem long and carefully, and IL
tally she came to the conclusion that D
e knew the man. Then she ran down W
study out plan by which he could be oil
l to devote himself to Florence and to h,
nquer her. She spent whole morn sc
9 In deep thought. At luncheon she e,
peared with severe headache and a w
itten letter. ns
IF that does not bring him." she said hi
h herself, II must simply give up. fir
1t did bring him. He was Jarvis Muir av
7, Mrs. Chasby Soden's nephew, the NJ
OF her Oldest brother, now dead Jar tn
Murray was thirty years old and not
city to look at. He had knife scar oh
It above the bridge of his nose, and the NJ
8 Of his face was corrugated with h