Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-02-22

| <(<ySSJSsEfi.SslNSSS~ hic uS " present
| UMSgSSzzEHSSSS years ago when 1
xtNNl0I#NEN$S was young man
81 " 0O'0 w y and fountain
pens were novelty. Mino was made
OF tin, with rubber bag to hold the
Ink. When you squeezed tho pen
holder the ink ran out of the bag and
Hooded the pen-or anything else that
happened to be within convenient
range. Tho dinbolical contriyance
looked like n tin whistle and acted like
cutie fish, but no one else had one.
and so l was proud of it. Vanitas
yanitatum Short was my triumph.
can still remember, MS painfully ms
thong 1t was an affair of yesterday.
how the tragedy occurred. It was at
the Sturdovant- Hamiltous ball
quito tho swell event of tho season.
had been looking forward to this ball
with interest for n good while, be-
cause J. intended to find au opportun-
ity there to effect reconciliation
with Alice. Such opportunities wero
not frequent, and I knew that if I
missed this ono it might be long
time before found another, and that
odiously handsome Dick Hamilton
was paying her great more attention
than liked. Alice and had been close
friends ever since we were children.
and Ind como to feel that | had
sort OF proprietorship in her. We
had even been engaged for inst
twenty-fonr hours, Mt the end of which
time we had quarreled, for reasons
too complicated and too absurd to be
introduced here. speedily repentcd.
however. and was only waiting for nm
opportunity to induce her to do like
wise.
With this we:ghty resolution on nv
mind, it is no wonder that felt lii
tie tremor rs 1 started to go down
stairs, and that scanned myself with
unusual attention in the great pier
glass, to make sure that my attire was
perfect. Nothing cmbarrasses one
moro under trying circumstances than
the CONSCIOUSNESS of being badly
dressed, l was, think nav SOW
we'll dressed. My trousers were i'm.
peccable, my gloves ditto, my coat fitted
to perfection, my white waistcoat was
as spotloss-to employ n figure which
is popular among my brother barris
ters-as spotless as tho driven snow ::
my hair was Mt that precise point when
1T has lost the formality given to it by
the hair-dresscr, without ASSUMING the
wild and outrageous appearance to
be noticed among musicians and other
doubtful characters. My complexion
had never been better. On the whole.
l was very we'll satisfied with tho gen
eral effect.
| When l entered the ballroom Alice
was away ut the further end, talking,
L grieved to note, with that odious
young Hamilton. L did not care to
make my approach under such irving
circumstances, and bided my chance
with what patience could muster
Finally my opportunity came, and I
lost no time in reaching her side. She
greeted mo very kindly, rs she al
ways did, in something the same STYLE
that she might have received n verv
old friend of her fathers. This cheer.
full, unembarrassed greeting ALWAYS
provoked me beyond mo lsure: but T
ana my best to stife my ill-temper,
which WAS also some Whit assua9ed
by the pleasing discovery that
through some misunderstanding she
was not engaged for the next dance.
had never seen her more radiantly
beautiful, and could feel tho eyes OF
many envious observers turned upon
me as we took our places. The next
dance and the next were taken, but
the third she promised to me. At
the end of this dance, which was n
waltz, and taken ut the numerically
fast tempo then prevalent, remarked
that she was somewhat flushed with
the heat, and proposed that we should
take turn in the conservatory.
Whether she guessed what was in
my mind or not, cannot say. 1t
seemed to me that the color grew q
shade deeper in her lovely checks, but
: that may have been due to the heat
or was perhaps the effect of my own
imagination. At any rate she assented
in the most charming manner in the
the world, and wa strolled out into
the large and handsome conservatory.
which was now quito deserted. II
was in this same conservatory that we
had stood aud talked the evening after
We were engaged, and 1 hoped thai
memories of this would affect her az
they did me. But alas she was eyi-