Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-14
LOVE AND JOY.

hear.i!v tired OF it WAS the evident
ana continuous purpose of mankind To
perm , her To remain Il spinster.
Tree she mad been one 81 long 1t
wou.G seem that she should have be
conc accustomed to il. but by some
strange fatality women. that is, the
maior.ty Of women. never accept their
lot BIZ his form with calm resignation
and 4eautiful Christian spirit which
has won for them the cndcarinS title
OF Ito sentler sex.
And Susanna Morton had put UP with
II ius, - long as She was going TO.
Foe- leap years had passed her by
ana $50 had submitted gracefully, but
each year less gracefully than she had
douo ne year previously. and there
werc momentS in the last Of the four
when she became almost desperate
Now hat Il fifth had come her mind
YVES n AIDE up. She would take the rens
OF cupid in her own hands and drive
tina narum-scarum little rascal in Il
manner 10 suit herself She knew her
goot. POINTS. one of which was that
she vas - years old or therca bouts.
man who was looking for Il real SenSi-
bic wife could afford TO disregard. In
addison to this she had what men sell
don dsregard-a comfortable fortune.
I: was fortune tina had been the real
stumbling block in the matrimonial
patE of Susanna. and not any lack of
attractive qualities in her possession.
for She was not homcly nor was she
anything but charming. The fortune,
however. which was hers from her sin
rceuth birthday. had developed in her
"a fear that men sought her for her
mouoy and not for herself. and. never
hav.ng fallen in love with any of her
r0u~tiers. she did not find il difficult 10
res advances. believing. rs she did,
thu; men were mcrcenary wretches. as
q o. and that some day the one man
In a. the world for hct would appear
tan laim her as his own.
However. lie did not appear and he
scon:inEcd not to appear until Susanna
aaG reached an age and iirmncsS of
CHA r. cter. to put it mildly. when her
fortare WOULD have TO he ri least doub-
lee % make her rs attractive as she
was 1t 20.
THIS knowledge had come 10 her grad
Nal7y. but VAS none the less forceful
on nat atroant. and she was detegmin-
&c rot To lei this leap year pass without
rcsa.ts OF Il lasting character.
Gf the men in her train there were
perhaps hall dozen who were eligible.
anG any one of them would have made
husband any woman could bc proud
of But they were merely friends Not
nan Jack of them had ever suggest
ed such Il thing rs matrimony To her,
and, possibly. this was why she liked
thoIn. SO petycrSe is the nature of wom-
al.
Among shis half dozen WAS one who
found the greatest favor in susanna S
eyes, thu offers taking their positions
after him in regular graduation, and
this one Susanna selected aS her vic
tim for leap year, resolved To Try all
the others IN case of failure in the first
Instance
Truly. Susanna was desperate spin
ster
And no less Spry, for in the course of
his first call in the new year she be-
gan her operations. But it was a dread
FIJI task aud the evening passed with
out single step taken forward The
effort had been made, however, and
courage always comes with effort
When he came again she was SC
wrought up OYER the work before her
that he's eyes sparkled and her checks
gloWed in rosy color.
WHY. bless my soul. Miss Susan
he said. how pretty you look this even
ing
lie was ten years older that she and
always assumed that bless my soul
style affected 10y elderly men.
oh. thank You. Mr.. Culver" she
twittercc I'm sure you only think
So look Just rs always look
of course. Miss Susanna. only slight
ly more so" he smiled, but there wa,
that in the tone which had tho ring OF
insincerity, or ut least superficial and
social sincerity. which is very nearly
the same thing. and which made Susan
M despise the flattery Of men that SC
far lad meant TO her no dissolution OF
her spinstei.hood.
Sne WIS good naturcd about it. how
ever aud let Mr. Culver go on witt
whatever he had to say. for If there
was any man who could make nattery
more palatablc to her than an,
other man. that man was Mr.. Culver
But ii was soon over. and when he had
fixed himself comfortably i'm an cas-,
chair with which he was familiar Inc
seemed t. have forgotten whether Su
earna looked like IL fright or IL fairy
and began talking about all sorts oil
things. as people who talk for the mere
sake of talking.
AT all events. that's the way il pre-
scented itself to Susanna. and she fel
the spirit of desperation slowly creep
in- over her. She took IA long brcatl
for encouragement and tentatively
turned the subject OF conversation up
on the most recent wedding which hac
occurred i'm their circle
What pair of fools they were ant