Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1896-07-11

man was out on the slope OF garden in
the rear looking idly ahead of him
across tho reach. He had seen in flash
through the staircase window the rowan
berries going up stairs. He caught in
flash now the rowan berries coming
down.
"Will she 60 straight out by the hall
door," he asked himself, cor come into
the garden?"
A rustic of the silk skirts coming
down the path toward him, glimpse
of comely figure silhouetted momen-
tarily against the pendent ivy, was the
agreeable answer to this query.
"As we have both come very long
distances and indsputably upon the same
quest" she began, cit is but fair, in
deed the right and civil thing to do, I
think, to ask you if you have come to
any decision about the house? I be-
ieve"-here her eyebrows went up, and
she showed gleam of teeth-''in all
business matters man takes precedence. "
"But, in matters of sentiment" he
interrupted her, "woman.
Sentiment" she said. "Do you
think, then, that even in her business
transactions woman is necessarily SEN
timental?"
II certainly do" he answered.
She moved on down nearer the tagged
edge Of the reach and stood looking
away across it to the green meadows op-
posite, each detail of her charming per-
son duplicated in the water with dis
tracing accuracy.
"Ah, if you knew me BETTER" she
said, "you would find that am most
prosaic creature. I threw aside senti-
ment ten years ago, when threw aside
my youth. My head at this moment, if
you could only see the workings Of it,
is full of the prosiest speculations as to
the drainage of the cottage, the exact
character of the soil on which it stands,
for have a strong suspicion it is built
upon clay. l am propounding, too,
whether I like the kitchen range. The
scullery strikes me as having been
thought Of afterward, and about the
bathroom fittings am just wondering.
1t seems to me they are inadequate, as
compared with the fiowery suggestion
of sanitary perfection conveyed in The
Daily Telegraph; and, we'll, the draw
ing and dining rooms are certainly rath
er circnmscribed, aren't they?"
"Yet, at the same time, you are agree"
ably pleased on the whole?" he suggest"
ed.
"On the principle that nothing, ever
in six roomed cottages on the banks Of
the Thames, can entirely reach the full
ness Of our xpectations-yes.
He smiled and spread his hands.
"In that respect the best of us are but
as little children ever searching after
what is absolutely impossible in this
world-perfection, he answered.
eyes, why is it? We should not like
it if we could get it either. Yet we
search, search, search, and waste our
whole lives. ="
She turned her arch glance toward him
and waited.
cit is our disease. Perhaps it is put
there purposely that we should not
grow too fond Of living. Besides-and
here comes the irony Of it-if every
thing wero perfection we shouldn't
know it,"
"No, we should want counteracting
foils, like milestones, to show us it is
perfection. Her eyes travelled up the
green slope toward the house, and she
added, reverting to it: 'But you, you
also, like this by no means faultless BIZ
jou residence. Yes, can see by your
face. Your face assures me that you
have seen something today that pleases
you"
He dropped his hazel eyes upon her
and leaned on his cane
eyes," he said slowly. 81 have Ger
Tainly seen something that pleases me
to-day. But" he added quickly, 81 am
willing to waive priority if I have it,
which doubt, in your favor and back
ont of all competition with regard to
the bijou residence. After all, what
thing will do for me"
''And lam spinster," she said with
a smile. "Why should not anything do
for me?''
For all their never 'avin met till
this ere morning, they seem to be
mighty friendly" observed the care
taker watching their departure down
the shady road together later. "It
seems to me to be more question Of
taking each other than taking the house.
They ain t said nothing about the house
one way Or t'other, but they ave said
a good deal about each other judging by
their eyes,
The woman picked more wild flowers
ass she went back, the man assisting her.
Midway down the dusty lane they rested
Un fallen oak, the victim of a recent
cyclone, and told each other their biog-
raphies. At the inn, close to the rail-
way, they lunched together in the inn
parlor, criticising the proprietor's ideas
of art afterward, task of elastic quail
ity according to the degree of opportu-
nifty for lingering desired. And she-she
never looked prettier, even in her palm
lest days.
Have you ever traced the genesis of an
acquaintance? 1t may be quite as capa-
bile of wide advances and undreamed
conclusions as the genesis of speech.
You may begin in the tropic of Cancer
and end in Siberia; Or you may begin in
Siberia and end i'll the tropic of Cancer
it's all matter of chance. But this
man and this woman began and ended
i'll the tropic of Cancer, and so there was
marriage in the paper, but the bijou
residence is still unlet.
| In the English army soldier il