Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-06-14

a young man with youths hopes and
fancies, was very happy. Indeed,
that seems mild way of describing
better read: | was supremely happy.
To state the case briefly: Flor
ence and had been lovers in the
past. We seemed made for each
other. l know this is a common be-
lief among lovers, but there were
others beside myself-cool and unin-
terested onlookers-whos said the
same thing.
lf-there is always an if in the
way. AS i said, if, however, it had
not been for one thing lorence's
hobby" | called it-there would not
have been any reason why-well, /
will simply say it was this hobby
that had kept us apart these years.
Florence Vance was literally inca
pable of small or petty actions; she
seemed to live far above the gossip
and little WEAKNESSES of human ma
ture. 1t was this which, after the
first desperate failing in love-"
bound Inc to her, and yet, notwith-
standing all this, a day came of which
even now | cannot bear to think.
Florence's one ambition above all 9TH
ers had been to 60 to college and
study the higher science of mathe-
matics. This is what | called her
hobby" The course at the high
school had not satisfied her and two
years after having finished there,
when, relative dying, left her for
tune to Florence, she at last saw her
way clear to satisfy her ambition, for
the Vances were only ordinary living
people and could not afford her this
extra luxury.
The next thing l heard-three or
four years later-was that she had
finished her course. Time passed on,
and one day, when looking over my
morning paper, personal notice
caught my attention, and this is the
way it read:
miss Florence Vance, late
graduate of l. university, is said
to be not only one of the most brilliant
mathematician of the day, but one
of the most clever astrologists. She
has recently given mum Der of dem
onstrations of her prognos ticatory
powers to cultured Bostonians in
matters both great and small"
| never knew until | saw this no.
tice how much hope l had cherished
now that my dream of life was
over For | knew that she had real
lied her ambitions beyond her wild
est hopes and that it would be a
"hobby" no longer but a life's work
to her. and that now, if not before,
she was hey ond my reach.
Instead of travelling l was obliged
to work hard. This was tolerable
panacea for heartache, and as years
went on accumulated small for
tune. My personal expenses were
few, and | gave my whole attention
to my business, which was nothing
more or less than hardware. won
dered sometimes if dealing in this
commodity were not having its effect
upon my character. This was mag
inatiOn, of course, but | know for
fact that | was neither as sympa-
thetic nor as kind as | had been.
| did not mind this at first. What
difference did it make so long as |
made success of my business? 1t
was all there was left to me. But in
time / felt differently. Some way
Florence had been too real an infiu-
ence in my life to be forgotten cas-
lily, and | determined to make myself
a man such as she would like.
There was so little that was noble
or original in my character that it
was harder for me to rise above my
faults than it is even for most peo-
pie. How we'll / succeeded is for
some one else to say, but certainly
the trying was of more benefit than
doing nothing.
Some years later in the same morn
ing paper and the same personal
chit chat l read:
FLORENCE Vance, the clever math-
ematician, is recovering from her
late attack of brain fever and will in
a few days go to NJ, her native
town, for an extended rest"
The fact that my old place there,
which / had long since left, must
need some repairs and that a num-
Der of other business matters there
needed my personal attention was
not long in presenting itself. made
the best possible arrangements at
my Office for an absence uncertain in
length and took the midnight train
for M.
| found that | was first on the
scene, but this was what | intended,
for it would not seem then that had
expected to see her there.
We met. | told her how | had
always loved her, but would not
speak at first because | could not ask
her to marry man with less for
tune than she possessed, and then
when | heard of her success in sci
ence how | felt still less worthy.
Never mind what she told me.
And we were really to be married.
after all | hal to say it over and
over to myself many times to COM
prehend it, and even then l failed.
Although, as | said, / was no longer
young, my pulse beat much more
rapidly and sudden choking came
in my throat when | met her in the
library just before we were to 60