Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-12-04
W;ashln9tun Standard
LOST AND FOUND.

IL - 4t'a 'l'faF4i W 4i4sstIilNf A4.' - !
81 il. wa- At my house on a visit.
should rather call him the friend 81
NY father, a, he belonged To- Il grn"r-
ati'n previous I, my own. He took a
great fancy to me when | VA, Il boy
and often told M his story. one
day, when he WAS in a peculiarly com
mumicativc mood. persuaded linn /"
write it ont, which he did, on condi-
ton that it was not to he published
during his lifetime A. he has been
dead now 10 wears and all the mem
hcrs OF his Immediate family have
passed away, there can he no impro-
pricty in offering il to the public. 1t
Is scarcely necessary for me to say
that, after a lapse OF 80 years, it WAS
necessary to make a copy OF il, a. the
original ink had faded very much.
/, John Williams, had just COM
plctcd my college career, which had
been neither better nor worse than
that of thousands OF others. A slow,
plodding mind was all that nature
had given me within, and red hair, a
ireckled face and a rather ungainly
figure were what she had bestowed
upon me without. John will never
set the river afirc," was what my
father had once said to me. Dear
kind old man, he did not know that |
was within hearing distance or he
never would have said it. But, al
though the remark was gall and
wOrmwood to me at the time, il
spurted me on to exertion, and
made much better use of my time al
college than | would otherwise have
done.
Mary Mercer, daughter of neal
neighbor and intimate friend of my
father, had been my lifelong compan
ion and friend. We were opposites il
every particular. She was graceful
and was not; but, owing to our Sc
cluded lives, We had been thrown
much together, and her charitable
disposition had been accustomed t,
overlook many of my imperfections
An admiration amounting almost t.
worship had risen in my mind wheI
l saw her after my four years absence
at college. had left her a sweet, at
tractive child, and found her on m,
return woman such as my fame.
had never pictured.
OF course there could be but ont
result. If l had never been in low
before, l certainly was now, and l wa
not long in making known to Mar.
my feelings. Mary's con duct on thu
occasion afforded the first instance il
which had known her to swerve il
the least from what was the Obviou.
truth. She was confused, blusheG
slightly and declared that l had taker
her so much by surprise that she did
not know what to say; she had never
thought of me in that light, and
must really give her a little time tc
think the matter over | knew at the
time that Mary was fibbing.
No woman was ever born with one.
half of her sense without finding out
such things long before they were
ever spoken to her. But there was
no help for it. She had the game in
her own hands and evidently intended
to play it to suit herself. She asked
for a week to consider the matter
/ insisted that two days were enough
but she was resolute, and, with a wry
face l had to submit.
One stipulation was that / should
not attempt to see her during that
time. l thought this was rather hard
and said so, but she was even more
positive than before and / yielded
with the best grace l could.
In order to give her no excuse fol
further delay set off the next day tc
visit a college friend and staid at his
house five days. 1t took day tC
reach his house and a day to return
Thus the week passed away, slowly
enough for me, and ! am afraid my
friend found me a dull companion
Promptly at the end of the specified
time l presented myself at Mary's
house. To my dismay found it full
of company. ] had been there only
n few minutes when learded that the
friends had been there ever since the
day after l left. / scanned Mary's
face, actions, manner and reception
but could make out nothing. She
was kind and agreeable, but that had
been her ordinary manner, and nc
conclusions could be drawn there.
from.
I found no opportunity to say q
word to her in private until my visit
was over. AS / went to the front
door on my way out to my house, she
came out on the porch with me, as had
been her habit on previous occasions.
As l babe her goodbye l asked, as
calmly as I could, though heaven
knows my heart was beating so loud
that / knew she must hear it,
"well, Mary, what is my fate to
be-"
Really, john" she said, "you
must give me one day more, and
promise you to give you my final an
swer then. The house has been full
of company and my time has beer
SO fully occupied that l have scarcely
had time to sleep. Every night since
x,o,, uora here 7 have gone to bed Sc