The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1896-08-21
ENVOY.
!, a short while
MET BY THE SEA.

hailing from benighted region in james
county, Tex, but who nevertheless man
aged to create "a pretty lively sensation in
a certain fashionable neighbOrhood at Long
Branch few nights ago. Miss Cordelia
is schoolteacher when she is at home,
and, 1t would seem, Is otherwise possessed
of many aspirations. Among others, she
aspired to visit to Long Branch and har-
bored her hard earnings for two years
looking to this end
Now, James county, Tex, and Long
Branch are pretty far apart in more ways
than one, Miss Cordelia says; but she
packed big tin trunk full of the clothes
she fancied she would need at a fashion
able summer resort, put couple Of shirt
waists into her bag along with few other
necessaries set her teeth hard and made
the journey.
Miss Cordelia was no SLOUGH when it
came to hustling and she went to work in
businesslike way to find u boarding
place. In the first instance she had the
happy faculty of knowing what she want
ed, and her desire in this case was for a
light, airy room on the ocean front, where
she could hear the restless murmur of the
sad sea waves and be retired, for Miss Cor
della had come loaded to send news to The
Weekly Woolgatherer of james county,
Tex, and felt that she must have quiet
spot where she could pursue her literary
operations. When she engaged 10 by 10
box of room, with sloping roof that
would have touched her head had she ven
tured unsuspectingly on the far side of her
apartment, she had not got just what she
wanted by long shot, but about all she
could afford However, she was on the
ocean front and had all that could be de
sired in the way OF the sad sca waves bust
ness. The room had one little bit of shut
tered window looking seaward, and Miss
Cordelia could stand by this, leaning her
elbows on the sill and look down on what
she called the passing pageant of plutoc-
racy or away to the eastward where the
sky dipped down into the ocean and the
south bound steamers pulled spot of
black smoke against the gray horizon, or
the spars of a sailboat showed like irregu-
lar cedar posts for barbed wire fence.
In short, Miss Cordelia was content, and
she unpacked her valise and took posses
sion before she went to look after her
trunk She hadn't calculated exactly upon
any serious difficulty in finding her trunk;
covered 1t would be no easy matter to find
the station. She was pushing down a grass
grown cross street in determined but
dazed sort of way when she met stout
man In sweater and knickerbockers riding
a bicycle.
"Can you tell me the way to the depot?'
said Miss Cordelia, waving her parasol as
the man wheeled up.
"Beg pardon" he said, wabbling hi.
wheel and putting like porpoise.
"You are excusable, " said Miss Cordelia
wondering what he had done to ask hel
pardon for. Can you tell me the way t.
the depotP want to get my trunk. "
"Oh, the stationY" the man pulled
"G'down Chelsea two blocks and turn tx
the left"
Miss Cordelia went. 1t took her dea
of walking and about two hours of tim,
to ascertain that there We're more stations
than one in Long Branch and that he
trunk was at the last station she struck
In the meantime another trouble wa!
presenting itself The clouds had gathered
into pretty substantial sort of blacknes
overhead and heavy wind was shaking
few drops out of them, Miss Cordelia go
sprinkled while she was showing her trunl
to the baggage man, and felt an uncom
Portable sort of dampness around the edge
when she took her seat on the trolley ca
and made for home. In the midst OF tn
ride the rain came down in torrents. Ii
all of Miss Cordelia's experience, she says
she never saw anything TO equal that rain
A Jones county wet norther was fool be
side it, In the face of it all the conducto
called her avenue, dumped her off, yelle
"Rightr' Hanged the bell and was gene be
fore she knew 1t.
Miss Cordelia says If one gets any wette
in the surf than she got in that few min
utes walk she doesn't want to try bath
ing. She is afraid there wouldn't be niue
of her left The water was dripping froT
her ears and her elbows and streamin
from her skirts when she got home, bu
she was glad to see as she went up tn
front steps that her trunk had preccde
her.
81 paid the man 10 cents. See?" said tn
why girl who stood in the doorway wit
couple of towels thrown across her arm
"Will you have somebody bring IN
trunk up right away" asked Miss Cordeli
as she flshed the proper change from he
purse and went dripping up the two flight
of stairs to her room.
The girl had bend in her body tina
worked both ways and she worked it, sal
yes, and slammed the door
When Miss Cordelia got to her room
she set her umbrella in the slop can, hun
her skirts over the bathtub to drip, turne
her shoes bottom upward and slipped int
the thin wrapper which she had stutfe
into her valise to sleep in on the car. Tn
done, she sat down ON the edge of the be
to wait for her trunk. And she waited A
the seconds grew to minutes and the mil
utes to hours Miss Cordelia realized tn,
the matter was growing serious, She poke
her head out of the door and called, bl
nobody answered. She listened, but I
sound broke the stiffness savo the beatir
of the rain and the dashing of the wave
Time passed. There were neither footstel
nor echo of footsteps BY and by Mi
CorJlelia began tn suspect that she was q
only person ON the floor, and il was N
very long before she realized that she WI
the only person In that wing Of the hOus
The cottage was an old fashioned doub