The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1895-09-28
''IF.'
By Frank HI. Irons.

BY Frank H. Irons.
was she pretty?
That is a question, the answer to
which depends upon the point of view.
There are some people who are fond
of majestic, or statuesQue beauty, and
who think broad shoulders and a lofty
mien necessary to complete female
beauty. These would not like her;
they would say she was too little. She
was little; and as she sat on the seat
of the car, half curled up and looking
out of the window at the scenery
which seemed rushing by, while her
: ears We're receiving scraps of a con
versation from the seat in front Of her,
she seemed, really, only a child.
She had .liveAl. Through years enough
to be more than a child; but in all
things she. had not progressed. She
was not "up-to-date." She was old
fashioned in her'ideas, a little prudish,
Shy and retiYing.
Strangers! were strangers. They
scarcely existed at all for her. If
they looked at her she shrunk away
and If one should chance to speak to
her, she vas distressed.
She was not a %favorite; but she was
a good friend-sweet and precious to
those who claimed her love.
Her parents knew her for a true and
helpful daughter, filed with patience
and kindness. Her brothers and Sis
tiers adored her, and there were young
men who thought her well nigh "di-
vine."
Perhaps they were not far wrong in
this.
She had been named, when it was
not supposed that she would remain
so little, Iphegenia; but this seemed
so absurd a name for such a little
mite that, after trial of many nick
names, they had settled on the short
and easy one of eff"
Do anne have no effect upon the
character of their possessors? 1t has
become a habit to subscribe to the
old saying that the scent Of the rose
continues sweet under any kind of a
name; but is it true that the change of
its name wouldn't hurt, at least the
reputation of it's odor?
AL I'LL etClVlS. 1UI Whatever ICdoOuS
Miss If was not a determined person,
and her qualifying name was applied
to many of or declarations and opin-
ions. Her Yes" and mo" were al
ways given with the rising infection
as if. she wasn't quite sure, or as 1t
she feared to offend by being too posi-
tive.
! She was a lovable girl, however. One
= 80 4L@ -oFk 1,io1Hfnr SORT %hof would
be burned at the stake sooner than
really and actually give up a principle,
while her square-jawed, heavy framed
and r%enouncing at the executioner's
feet. SO
Pink cheeks, blue eyes, c~hildishness
and fear. Of all things; these go smil-
:ingly to a death which makes the IRON
nerved quail.
You can imagine he'll. saying at the
.Wen, good-by, dear. l.. mustn't
keep the hangman waiting for his sup
per-" F.
Rulers of the world are these.
ballots? They are too sure of their
present power to want a change.
They do not need ballots, o any
human invention, to complete their
rule of mankind whom they have CIV
ilized and subdued.
Men who would not bow before the
pageant Of the king, yet submit with
out q murmur and bend in reverence
before this uncrowned queen.
II was coming back from a journey.
She had been up the line @ hundred
+ miles to visit IN aunt.
There was doubt about her going
alone. Egotistical men think that they
should follow their own WOmenkind
around them to protect them: u the
girls and women know that they are
better taken care of when they are
conf1ded to the public.
There is, no doubt, something ab-
surd in the constant hat dofing Of the
men to the women, who respond with
the smile mechanical; but hat lifting
and smiling are episodes in che civili-
cation which has made it safe fox q
woman to travel without a male at
tendant, from one ocean to the other.
The little woman was thoroughly en-
joying her trip. =.
The woman on the front seat was
complaining to. her companion:
1.-THE wind blew. all the time I was
there; and l couldn't go out a bit"
If thought to herseif-and itsamused
her: ''Think of the wind being SO
rude. and why couldn't she go out, l
wonder?'. -
The whirr Of III 'wheels and the rat
tie of the train drowned the, next:few
paragraphs of the complaint -. 49,,
The man behind her filled in the gap
with a bass roar. about the car being
SO dash dashed hot" IFS face was
turned from the, man, so that her smile
need not fade. ! a ,:H: *..., ~
The smile was d genuine one. A
smile born of quaint and humorous
thought; the light from the crucible
). within the brain wherein; fancy was
mixing and refining. -
u 1t was pleasant to look at; n young
!. man. sitting in full view. of it thought
it most enchanting. !
He was a grave young man, clad in
ministerial black: His color told OF
midnight electricity and the lines and
shape Of his face were convincing
proofs that the late lights shone not
bibulously to him. At a glance you
would not, perhaps, have been favora-
bly, impressed with the young man.
He improved, however, upon ac-