The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-12-28

h u X q DIT
when he bent his bow and sent an ar
row straight at the heart of Jason
Claggett
Jason was two inches over six feet
tall But those seventy-four inches
were seldom or never stretched out in
perpendicular sequence; for many
weary days of trudging behind the
plow and many others spent in pick
ing legions of tobacco worms had bent
-Jason's back and invested his knees
with a prominence which might have
suggested to a casual observer that
their owner had been just about to
kneel and then had had doubts about
the sdvisaoility of SO doing and was
yet undecided
Nature had crowned him with an
abundant thatch of flaming hair. and
the sun and wind had given him a
complexion hardly less red than his
locks, and then poor Jason suffered
badly. 1t is hardly needful to add
that he was bashful, painfully and
seemingly hopelessly so.
IS might have been expected, the
object of his affection was exactly his
-oppcsite-it is thus that Cupid loves
to work. Dolly Trilligan was pretty
and short and inclined TO chubbiness
"A fresh, wholesome, country lass
Being in love with her with all the
strength of his great, awkward, BASH
full being, it followed naturally that
Jason's bashfulness was painfully aug
mented when in her presence, and he
was abjectlY and helplessly dumb
when he would have given the world
and all to have appeared to advantage.
He would willingly have parted with
his right arm to have been for brief
space endowed with the readiness of
tongue that would have enabled him
to pour out the old, old story and ask
her to b ecome his wife.
Time and again he had made up his
mind boldly, almost fierc ely, to put his
fate to the test, but upon each occa-
sion when the supreme moment came
his courage had deserted him before
the fash of her bright eyes, and he
had sat dumb as the lamb before the
shearer. Often he had vowed to tell
her, though he died on the spot, and
each time he had found himself re-
duced to what he felt to be the verge
of suffering imbecility, and had
crawled away, hating himself and his
cowardice.
And so it came to pass that, since he
had first begun worshiping at her
shrine, the weeks had grown into
months, and still he seemed no nearer
the consummation of his hearts desire
than at first.
think Mistress Dolly had encour-
aged him a wee bit at times and
smoothed the way for him as much as
maidenly modesty would permit, but
If so, Jason, in his abject humility,
never knew it. 1t may be that she
pitied him-and pity is akin to love
tits said; or, perhaps, when Master
Cupid so sorely wounded Jason, he had
also aimed g shaft at DolIy's warm
heart
She knew that Jason's drawbacks
were all plainly apparent. He was an
honest, upright, industrious young fel-
low, forehanded in that he already
owned the tract of land adjoining his
fathers farm and had in the bank sufh-
Cient capital wherewith TO make q
comfortable, though modest, start in
life
But fair lady cannot wait forever fol
faint heart, and, perhaps, Mistress
Dolly had grown little weary Of ia
sons procrastination. At any rate
there came a time when the swain
Learned that he must bestir himself
nollx,ss Etfla b-ofheT an INN Of creat
promise. informed Jeson, under the
bond of eternal secrecy, that Dolly
had vowed that if Jason did not speal
e'er the year had flown his subsequent
speaking would avail him nothing.
IF you don't ask her this year yor
won't get her at all" quoth the lad
''She means business
The implication that he might b
successful In the event Of his taking