Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1894-12-27
DN THE RIGHT TRACK


richt thinking of the house would build
Tor pretty Monotte Silby. When she tossed
me sky high, | contemplated suicide for
whole week. Then l met Maria Prudcns,
3snnd my spirits revived. l declared my
love to her in As hours, only to be laughed
i ut and told that she had been engaged a
wear. So 1t went on, love affair after love
affair, each one more painful than Its pre-
decessor, until l was 25, when common
& sepse called halt and questioned, Nor
L lev Montague, are you going to court every
rirl in Christendoms" Then the suscep-
tibility that encountered such frequent in
epiration began mad rush to the other
extreme. l somcrsaulted over into wom-
An hater Curls, waves, roses, dimples,
Il smiles-all woman witchery was lost on
me l had gone up the gamut OF female
loyeliness, had sounded every note, and
INV heart pronounced the tones tiresome
and uncompcnsating. l carried my d.
ploma from the school OF love. There was
nothing more to learn about woman, and
Il became n self evident proposition that
celibacy was my doom. l accepted 1t
cbeerfully, and, like all such graduates,
began to ridicule and depreciate women
youth s playthings, mans scorn.
1t was December. The first snow lay
on the ground, and the clear, cold rays OF
! q golden sunset were falling over all tho
untrodden whiteness. The business OF the
day being over, wound up affairs at my
Office and started for my home, which lay
on the outskirts Of the town. Turning
from the main street to the road that led
to my home, observed that was the first
pedestrian along the highway since the
snow had fallen. No. there Is another
track Some one has gone ahead of me.
And such a track! A woman's? 1t must
be child 5. 1t is so tiny and perfect. Yet
something told me 1t was woman's, and
felt sudden mysterious interest in 1t.
With head down and eyes following this
track, / reached my own gate and, be-
hold the walker turned in there!
Having settled into bachelorhood, l was
not sure that | wished to meet a strange
woman, and | knew there was no foot in
my own family that, even with tight
squeezing could be reduced to the size OF
that track so l made n sudden dart to
. the side door, entered and, meeting my
mother, inquired Who hercT'
WHO'S here she repeated. How do
you know any one is here2'
why, haven't / followed woman's
track all the way fron town, mOthcrf
And | never saw such n beautiful foot!
Its not any prcttier than the owner,
my mother replied, but l suppose YOU
object to meeting her, you care SO little
for ladies, SO I've ordered "a small table
hid in the breakfast room and You can
take your supper alone If you wish :"
Well, finding myself so coldly and easily
disposed of, felt uncertain as to whether
1t pleased me. But asked, with woman
hating nonchaiance, Who is the beauty
with such perfect footy'
she is Miss Enid Gloriana Brand,
school friend of your sisters
4 How does she happen to be here, moth
err
+ She is going to visit her aunt in Fair
willie and stopped over to spend the night
with Felicia Al she lives in the city and
does not often see the snow in its purity
she preferred to walk up from the train.
/ She's lovely creature. I'm so sorry you
won t make her acquaintance Morley
& Il don't know but l will, mother II
she's as pretty as her foot, why -
Mother laughed and said in II tone that
pigued me, IIa, she's so charming and so
stylish she'd never look at u country town
beau like you.
Now, people inay lay themselves on the
shelf and be willing to be overlooked, but
they are not so ready to have other people
<
then, to think of woman looking upon
me as a country beau! l determined to
meet Miss Enid Gloriana Brand cher name
was longer than her foot). Twas Won
derful with what hasty, spasmodic zeal l
dashed to my room and got into the best
of a well kcd wardrobe. Miss Glorana
could not say the suit was a country cut,
for it came from her own city.
l rushed into the parlor with some little
diffidence 1t must be said, determined,
however, to impress the visitor, If posi-
BILE and escape the Indifference which my
mother predicted she would feel toward
me My salutation | accompanied with
compliment II knew some beautiful
Cinderella had entered my home, Miss
Brand l did not find her slipper but
saw the imprint of her delicate foot in the
snow and felt that l was fortunate in be-
ing able to follow her step"
Well, now, if you had seen that sweet,
girish face blush, look down unconscious
ly to her feet, which were peeplng from
under "A handsome dark blue skirt, and
then br,a,. iia;o ripple Of confused laugh
ter, you would understand how it was that
in an instant rcpented of all the unkind
things / had ever said about girls even
about those that had Tilted me. She was
W '-'-'''N-
me while l sat half dazed as she thanked
me for my gallantry, looking first at her
face ana then at her feet, admiring one so
much | would have been willing to pros
tratc myself at the other
did not take my supper in the break
fast room, and l so completely monopo-
lized Miss Enid Gloriana throughout the
meal and the evening my sister Felicia got
jealous and poutcd off up stairs. That
suited me exactly. Knowing the fair Enid
Gloriana would be under that roof but a
few hours and feeling that Providence
had not only taken me mysteriously by
the hand, but was pulling me vigorously
In a certain direction, said with great
boldness:
Miss Brand may tell you what said
as l followed your tracks from the viii
lagef"
"You may" she said, If it was some
thing pleasant.
aud