Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1896-09-25

going omect. prepared arcpe, and as
the sides Of our great bags touclcd l
threw one end into the oncoining basket.
As the other a%eronaut straightcned up
from making the end fast / was farther
astonished when my eyes met these #
q beautiful young woman
"The line was holding us only 10 or
10 feet apart. ! took off my hat and, rs
a total stranger, apologizcd for address
ing her, but hoped that tho unusual cir
cumstancc1 Of cur meeting would excuse
my apparent rudoress. Besides, l fam
ciod that her face seemed familiar,
though this, Ct course, was a fiat lie.
She smiled and gracefully accepted my
apology. She was young, bright and, l
thought, The handscmest girl l had ever
seen. She was tastcfully dressed in a
fancy costume, with skirts reaching just
below the tnce.
1--WE were scon chatting pleasantly
together, and / learned that she had
gone up Cor come up, rather, that after
neon froi1 Melbourne, ana had been
driving before the wind above the storm,
as | had myself been doing. Il was, she
said, only her third ascent, bet she was
perfectly cool and laughed gayly over
our somewhat strange meeting. | hap-
pened to look closely at her balloon, and
suddenly it struck mo that it answered
the description Of the enc the sipnur
had lost. l asked her dclicatcly where
she got it, and she said hat it had come
down one day IN her fathers front yard,
and after q Giligont attempt TO find the
owner by advertising in ell Of the Mel
bourne papers and putting up a notice
in the post Office she had decided 10 be-
gin making accents with The balloon
herself, since there was n heavy mort
gage on her fathers farm and danger Of
his losing il IL $500 was not raised coon.
"She was much embarrassed when
told her that 1 knew the owner Of The
balloon, and instantly said she would
return it to him Mt the earliest possible
moment. / vas by this time SO taken
by her that l told her she fhould dc
nothing Of the sort; that as the signor
had got another balloon l would sec
that she was not disposscssod, though ]
had rot the least idea how l should evcI
pay for it.
"At this she blushed, thanked me,
but said that mamma would not allow
her to accept such a gift from n compar-
alive stranger. l was deeply touched by
her delicacy in the matter, but resolved
that she should own the balloon never,
theless. Intact, TO tell the truth, / was,
as you may guess. falling in love Will
the girl just rs rapidly as it is possible
for any man to fall in love with any
young woman.
"And, to make a long story short, BY
the time the storm was Cver and we be
gan to descend l was engaged to her
subject to the consent of her parents
As we settled toward the earth and
gazcd across into her great, liquid eye
and saw there the light Of awakening
love / was the hGppicst man above Il
Australian continent. But che dan
thought crossed my miLd-that Of n,
utter poverty.
eve eoon reached terra lrma, and
delicious thrill shot through me rs
touched her hand for the first time j
assisting her from her basket. l the.
turned ard picked up a store to use j
stalking down our balloons. ! saw some
thing CLEAN Oh it. l examined closely
Goldl a glance showed moro all aLou
on tho ground. 1 used my stakes i
marking out a claim. 1t became the Gel
ebratod Gas Bag mine, Of which yc
have heard, and a month later / sold
for goo, 600. We were married i
WoOlloOmCOIlCO. 4"
"See here, judge" broko in III
dominic, II thought this story was gC
ing to introduce an incident to prov
that lying is not demoralizingl"
81 promised nothing of the sort, " re
turned the judge. This story is an G.
ample, net an incident to prove any
thing. However there may DO plcof /
it after all. 1 have told it, and l.
leave it to any one Ecre if / am Gemora.
lied. Hayden Carruth in Chicag
Post.