The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1896-12-29
Ben's Dove Affair.

him disparagingly, though others I'M
doubtedly applied the words in a com
plimentary sense. Practically has its
eulogists, but it has, also, its censors.
There are some people who will lind
fault with prose because it isn't poetry,
the same sort of people consistently
denounce practically because of its
inefficiency in speculativeness. For it
is a common form of criticism to con-
denim a thing not so much for being
what it is as for not being something
else.
Ben Whiteley's mind ran clear and
pure as brook He was broker in
the city. At one time in his life he
had been shockingly poor and had to
work very hard. His industry at last
had met it's due reward. Arrived at
nearly middle age, he was in very com
Portable circumstances, and he saw no
reason to doubt that his prosperity
would continue. When he announced
to his friends that he thought OF TAX
ing to himself wife it was generally
felt that the step he meditated was
prudent and a proper one, and only
what might, under all the circum-
stances of the case, be reasonably ex-
pected. And when he further stated
that he had made an offer of his hand
to one Miss Edna Latrobe, the daugh-
ter of very wealthy dry goods mer-
'lchant, and that his offer had been ac-
cepted by that lady, his friends, among
haS fn tn
tender him hearty congratulations on
the happy occasion.
Ben spoke of the matter in his own
simple, sober way:
"Well, you know, I'm getting on, he
said, "and if I'm ever to marry it's
yahout time ] should be setting about
it. A few years hence it will be too
late. / shall be settled dow n then III Il
bachelor kind of life, shall have adopt
ed bavhel0r views and habits and bacli-
elor ways of looking at things, which
shouldn't be able to alter or get out OF
ut any price. A few years ago could
not have afforded it, to put the matter
Elainly, and so it was quite out OF the
question. But / always looked for
ward to getting married when | coulG
afford it, and now Tn going to Carry
out the notion. You're very kind, and
l think / shall be happy-in fact. I've
10 doubt about it--as happy as any
fellow has any right to expect to be.
One ought not to expect too much, OF
course. But I'm very fond, in my
way. of Miss Edna Latrobe, and /
think that she, in her way, is fond OF
ne. She is not too young nor too old,
not too good-looking nor too plain.
She's sensible enough and accom-
Dlished enough, and l do not see why
she should not make me very good
lcind of a wife, and, similarly, don't
see why, should not make her very
good kind of a husband. What more
is there to be said? Perhaps I'm not.
very fond of old Latrobe, and perhaps
old LatrODe is not very fond OF me.
But, still, I don't see that that need
matter very much. ] daresay we shall
understand each other by and by;
meantime we must rub on, just as
well as we can, and | must try to make
the best of the old gentleman's hui
amors, and not run counter to him any
more than I can avoid We need rot
be meeting so very often, you know.
And it seems to me the old fellow
would not be any fonder of anybody
else who might want to marry his
daughter than he is of me. And If
Edna likes me land she says she does
and I like Edna land | say do), that
seems to me the chief part of the BUSH
ness / don't think I need trouble my
self about the old mans views on the
subject. You see. it's our affair." ed
mas and mine, and not his, though it's
hard to make him see it i'll that light.
Edna has very good sense, and think
she looks at the matter very much as
/ do-only, of course, she can't help
feeling that he is her father; whereas,
thank goodness, he's not mine. I'm
very much obliged to you for your good
wishes. say over again.
1t will be seen that Ben Whitley was
not a lover to ''sigh like a furnace"
AS for writing a woeiiul ballad to his
mistress eyebrow I don't fancy he
could have accomplished such a feat if
his life had depended upon his doing
so. His pulse beat ever steadily and
punctually. The thermometer of his
love stood at temperate" with no
tendency toward rise. Let Cupid do
all he could, it did not seem that he
was able 10 accomplish any vital
changes in these respects. Whitley. 1T
was evident, persisted in contemplate
ing love and marriage from the prosalc
aud practical point of H'ew. Notions
OF poetry and sentiment on tltse, or,
indeed, any ether subjects, were not
possible to him. His constitutional Sc
renity refused to be disturbed at all.
There was nothing about him denotirg
n careless desolation." The marks
OF love-" as they are commonly under
stood, were not d:scernible upon him.
Many, perhaps, would have regarded
him simply as man going to lie mar
ried. and be inclined to think that he
mas not to he rara riisd as q lover at