The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-11-24
My Fountain Pen.
AN UNLUCKY ADVENTURE.
BY ROBERT WAGNER,

am not the possessor of a fountain
pen. never had but one, which was
given me as a Christmas present years
ago when 1 was a young man and
fountain pens were a novelty. Mine
was made of tin with a rubber bag to
hold the ink. When you squeezed the
pen holder the ink ran out of the bag
and flooded the pen-or anything else
that happened to be within convenient
range. The diabolical contrivance
looked like a tinwhistle and acted like
q cutie fsh; but no one else had one,
and I vas proud Of it. Vanitas vani
tatum! Snort was my triumph. I can
still remember, as painfully as though
is was ar affair OF yesterday, how the
tragedy occurred. 1t was at the Stur,
deVant-H amilton's ball quite the swell
event of the season. l had been look
ing forward to this ball with interest
for a good while, because l intended to
find an opportunity there to effect a
reconciliation with Alice. Such oppor
tunities were not frequent, and I
knew that if missed this one it might
be q long time before I found another,
and that odiously handsome Dick Ham
ilton was paying her a great deal more
attention than l liked.
Alice and I had Eeen close friends
ever since we were children, and I Il had
come to feel that l had a sort of pro,
prietorship in her. We had even been
engaged for list "a hours, at the end of
which time had quarrelled, for reasons
too complicated and too Assured to be
introduced here. 1 speedily repented,
however, and was only waiting for an
opportunity to induce her do likewise.
With this weighty resolution on my
mind, it is no wonder that l felt a lit
tie tremor as I started to go down
stairs, end that I scanned myself with
unusual attention in the great pier
glass to make SURE that my attire was
perfect. Nothing embarrasses one
more under trying circumstances than
the consciousness Of being badly
dressed. I was, l think I may say.
well dressed. My trousers were i'm
peccable, my gloves ditto, my coat
fitted to perfection, my white waist
coat was as spotless-tO employ a fig
ure which is popular among my broth
err barristers-as spotless as the driven
snow; my hair was at that precise
point when it has lost the formality
given to it by the h~airdresser, without
assuming the wild and outrageous ap
pearance to be noticed among must
clans and other doubtful characters.
Ny complexion had never been better.
On the whole, I was very satisfied
fed with the general effect.
When I entered the ballroom Alice
was away at the further end, talking
I grieved to note, with that odious
young Hamilton. I did not care to
make my approaches under such try
ing circumstances, end bided my
chance with what patience l could
muster. Finally my opportunity came,
and I lost no time in reaching her side.
She greeted me very kindly, as she ell
ways did, in something the same style
that she might have received a very
old friend of her fathers. This cheer
full, unembarrassed greeting always
provoked me beyond measure; but |
did my best to stiff my iii temper,
which was also somewhat assuaged by
the pleasing discovery that through
some misunderstanding she was not
engaged for the next dance. l had
never 9 her so rAdiantly beautiful,
aud l felt the gaze Of many envious
observers turned upon US as we took
our places. The next dance and the
next we're taken, but the third she prom
ised to me. At the end Of the dance,
which was a waltz, and taken at the
numerically fast tempo then preva-
lent, I remarked that she was some
what flushed with the heat, and pro,
posed that we should take a turn in
the conservatory.
Whether she guessed what was In
my mind or not, l cannot say. 1t
seemed to me that the color grew a
shade deeper in her lovely cheeks, but
that may have been due to the heat,
or vas, perhaps, the effect of my own
imagination. At any rate she assem-
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