Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-07-07
PORTIA JUNIOR.

Portia was ninteen, and a princess by
virtue of her beauty and am1ablllty. Her
father was learned, even temper ed, and
unprepossessing; her mother handsome
and of equal temperament, but not I'M
Gully gable-which may account
for the fact tnat Portia herself, while of
the intellectually beautiful type, was not
superciliously lovely, as is so often the
case with women similarly gifted. She
could talk with man without COMPEL
ing him to feel his own Ignorance, and
of course, this made her excessively pop
ular with the male portion of the COM
munity in which she lived; but, rarer still,
Pcrtia endeared herself so to women that
plain girls despite her beauty, loved to be
with her. She had way of making them
feel that her beauty detracted from rather
than enhanced their plainess, as though
she shed the glamour Of her personality
on all those about her, just as 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 prepossessing
qualities, and went her way though life
as simply, as quietly, and as sensibly as
she could.
That she should have princes dancing
attendance upon her by the score was not
surprising; that she should have her pre-
ferencns for certain princes was equally to
be expected; that she should have at least
two particular princes who wished her to be
theirs was not startling; and yet, sensible
as Portia was, when these gallant gentle
men made known their matrimonial hopes
to her, she was startled. That, | think,
was the only commonplace thing about
Portia TO be startled by so insignificant
an episode as two proposals on the same
evening is quite in the line of woman's
way.
But Portia had an excuse for her EN-
barrassment, which most women have not,
and that excuse was that it was not until
Prince Henry proposed marriage to her
than 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 question that had
been put by his rival just two hours pre-
ylOusy. 10 neither could she say no; to
neither could she say yes-surely here was
dIlema! 1t is my own opinion that
most women would have solved the prob
lem by quarreling with both princes, and
marrying third; and a man similarly
placed would have settled it by the toss of
a coin. Not so with Portia. Neither
dissemblance nor penny-tossing was one
of her accomplishments. Frankness was,
and she told 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 mat
tiers of this sort that Portia showed her
erudltion
Come back in FIVE years. she added,
land | will decide between you. Mean
while you should both bestir yourselves,
for by that which you achieve are my feel
ings likely to be influenced. Ordinarily a
question of this kind is settled on the
basis of love and affection. Here the love
and affection being in both cases equal, it
becomes a question of those qualities plus
the unknown quantity that must de-
eide"
1T depends, then" said Prince John,
upon that unknown quantity?"
Eyes, replied Portia.
''But supposing this unknown quantity
turns out to be third prince?" suggested
Prince Henry.
the advantage is with you" returned
Portla. You hive the start on him. II
he overtakes you and passes you, am not
to blame"
And the two princes went out into the
world and strove.
Prince John devoted himself assiduously
to many things, and succeeded in all. He
became lawyer of recognized standing,
not alone in responsibility, but of marked
ability. In or out of court Prince John
was sure to win any cause to which his
energies were devoted, yet fearful was
he of not ultimately realizing the ideals of
the still undecided Portia, that he branch
ed out into literature. He wrote a novel
that even pleased the critics. His work
was discussed seriously by the pulpit, and
no idea that such was to be the case, he
cation of his great work as father of a
new philosophy. To counterfeit the effect
of his novel, which, while gratifying, was
not exactly to his taste, he became hui
morist-a humorous humorist, who, while
he brought tears to the eyes of his readers,
as do most other humorists, did so less
abruptly, leading up to them through the
medium of laughter. Having shown his
ability In this direction, Prince John, in
order to show Portia what a universally
accomplished person he was, turned his
attention to poetry and the amateur stage,
with such success that one of his poems
crept into several western papers credited
to Tennyson, while his Hamlet was of such
a quality that prominent society journal
called him mute, inglorious Booth, !"
which, naturally, he construed into the
highest possible praise.
And what of Prince Henry? Alas, for
every forward stride taken by Prince John,
Prince Henry took one backward. He too
tried the law, and failed. He too tried
literature, yet succeeded not. Next Prince
Henry tried to become young Napoleon
of finance, and did so we'll that he met his
WELLINGTON, went through his Waterloo,
and came out sans ever, thing save his
good name In less than SIX months. The
good name he managed to retain, though
it was sadly mortgaged. Money had been
borrowed on 1t, but not in such fashion
as to lead to any suspicion as to his in
tegrlty. But his Waterloo By no means
called for st. Helena. Unabashed by
repeated failures, Prince Henry was not
afraid to fail again, and he did so, this
time as an agent for an insurance COM
pany, his commission not exceeding two
per cent. of his office rent. Aud 50 he
passed on from failure to failure. and at
the end of FIVE years the two cavaliers
presented themselves at the house of
Iortia -one eminent rich, successful:
the other eminent only as failure, rich
only In debts, successful only in lacking
success