The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1896-07-25
4 Trial ii Fiction.
BY Esther Noanes.

81. There is q time in the life Of nearly
every educated person when he feels
that fierce, unconqu querable desire to-
write Ito put into words for the bene-
lit Of coming generations such thoughts
and fancies as may occur to MIN OF 20
her.
.I And, indeed, believe one may wish
{ to write without even possessing tne
thoughts to embody in one effuslohs,
HI So great is the fascination OF seeing
ones own writings in print.
#| To this curious malady became an
early victim. And the acceptance OF
. an occasional poem by various weekly
4; paners added fresh fuel to the un-
ouenchable fire Of literary ambition.
At TWENTY-FIVE occupied a minor edl-
{ torial position on q daily paper, and
had had one or two stories accepted
by one Of the great magazines. Conse-:
uuently, [ began to feel rather import
ant in a literary way, and this tend
ency was decidedly encouraged by
compliments, sincere and otherWlse,
Of those with whom I came in contact
81 One of these, and one who from It's
beginning had taken warm interest,"
in my literary work, was a glrl--Mlss
Katherine Merry. I had known Miss
Merry almost from childhood, and had
always had considerable admiration
for her. I looked upon her as entirely
different from the other girls Of my
acquaintance. She was rather intel
lectual in her tastes, very fond Of read
ing and had even published some very
creditable verses, although she was
my Junior by two years. She was not
d girl to f1irt with, and she absolutely
disliked compliments. That is, she
really did dislike them, differing in
this respect from the majority of
women, who may affect to despise fat
terry, but who are none the less sls-
ceptible to it's influence. She and l
were hail-fellow- well-met together to
more or less degree. We understood
each other very we'll, were interested
in each others projects and enjoyed
comparing notes over our failures and
successes.
4, One night, when it so happened that
we We're both dining at the same
house, the conversation turned upon
that much -mooted question as to
whether such thing. as a p1atonic
love We're possible. Miss Merry and
myself both argued warmly for the
affirmative, and probably we each
thought of our mutual friendship as an
instance, although upon that point we
kept silent, contenting ourselves with
mentioning historic cases. ..
E Tne ether ,ly ever probably
because those who constituted it We're
better informed and more able to ex-
press their ideas, had somewhat the
best Of the argument, and Miss Merry
and I, although still unconvinced, were
compelled to withdraw from the battle.
walked home with the Merrys
afterward, and while her father and
mother went ahead, Miss Merry and 1
strolled slowly after them, discussing
the subject which had been under con-
sideration at dinner.
why, of course 1t is possible" she
said. "There are you and L.
@sTo be sure,'' I answered, 1--WE are
living evidence. By the way, l have
a scheme. Why shouldn't we write
story together about a platonic friend
ship? I think we could work it up in
great FORM
.s'That is a capital idea," exclaimed
Miss Merry 'You could furnish the
mans ideas and the woman's.'
"Good. Already I behold the COM
Portable check for our labor" =.
t'Oh, that is too bad. You are al
ways putting q cash value on things.
Remember, sir, that this is a story that
is to show the world how platonic
friendships may and do exist" ~
.All right. When shall we COM
mence work? You know we must talk
our plot over first. Tomorrow is my
day off. from the paper. Shall call in
the afternoon?"
ayes, do, and we can take a walk
and arrange the plot -
Thus it was arranged that we should
collabolate in a story, and the follow
ing day, according to the engagement,
called at the Merry household. Miss
Merry came down ready for the walk,
with her hat and gloves on. That was
one of her characteristics-she never
kept one waiting. It is little things
like this that make you form platonic
friendship for a girl, if anything will.
et'I've been thinking of a title for our
story she cried .sWhat shall we call
it % : .@@s5
4.You must name it, I said; "that is
part of your share Of the labor
Very well, then, let us call it Two
Friends . zs IS.
THAT is a capital idea Now for the
plot
The plot was a hard thing to settle.
The story must have some element to
lend color to it. Love, of course, was
barred out, and friendship must take
its place; but how, and what incidents
to make use of in order to portray it
happily, was an extremely knotty and
difficult question. One thing we fixed