The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-29
NEVER CAME.
But Her Old Lover Prepared For Her
Every Year.

Ada Patterson, in the ST. Louis Re
public: A romance as touching as that
Of the much-discussed and finally ostra-
cized g 'Ostler joe comes from far-off
Utah, which teens with religio-domestic
romances
One of the goals of sightseers in Salt
Lake City is a fantastic dwelling at the
streets.
"What is that?" tourists ask each
other. and no one can be found who is
wise enough to answer but the guide He
relnS up mis- horses and points with his
whip handle at the queer, box-iike house
with its strange adornment.
THAT is the home of John Miller" he
says. Twenty years ago he came here
from Scotland He left a bonny lass be-
hind him whose promise he had that she
WoulS follow him to the lovely valley
among the Wasatch mountains as soon
2S he could save enough money TO send
for her He found plenty of work for
his strong hands. and in IS months he
had built this little house and sent the
money to pay his brides passage TO this
country.
She had cheered him with frequent
letters. badly spelled and badly written,
bit full of heart, and his face was as
bright as the sun and his voice gay
lark's as he went about his work sing
inG- When he came home from his days
labor he spent his evenings making rude
furniture for his home and into every
hopes of an earthly heaven.
"A letter signed Your own troo love,
Flora, came telling him that she would
sail the next day and that she was
counting the hours till she could see the
little home he had made for her He
sang Justify at his daily labors after that
and his fellow workmen smiled, but not
in derision, for All the world loves a
lover. Didn't some writer say that,
ma-am2 The day came when he should
have received the letter she had prom
n "a Ha lfN.a1 Narrr
York. the letter which was to follow in
q few hours. The expected letter did
not come, nor that day nor the next, nor
the next. The man did not sing al his
work. His midday lunch was untasted.
The ship was lost at sea. l know il;
L dreamed about il last night" he said
TO the man who worked by his side
There was a wild, fevertsh look in his
eyes and his companion FASTENED TO re-
'Twan't lost, John. I saw some
thing about its arrival in the dispatches
a week ago But the man stuck 10 his
idea of course it's lost he said. If
she was alive she'd come TO me, boys
The strange look never left his eyes A
letter came in three weeks. He showed
it to some of the men, but he didn't
sense it Maybe it was go he didn't.
'Dea- John Qt ram: / sorry for
you, bu. l liked him better. You know
you were the only beau I ever had, and
didn't know hardly a man but you and
my brother. l met him on board ship,
ara we were married as soon as we gOl
10 New York. He is very good to me,
John, and we love each other. Forgive
me, good old John, but 1 could never
have made you happy after / knew him.
Marry some good girl John, and forget
me. FLORA.
mo. he never seemed to sense it. She
was lost at sea She was lost at sea-, ne
kept repeating in a dazed way. He has
never got his sense back, and he never
will, for he is an old man now, but he
forgels sometimes that she's lost at
sea- as he thinks and every year he
D,;ts some new flags or pictures out on
the house about the time he expected
her so long ago. He does that in her
honor and for a week or more he looks
for her. Then he seems to remember
that she was lost to him. though he al
ways thinks it was by drowning. The
bunting and flags and gimcracks have
been accommodating all this time He
lives there yet. He's all right on every
other subject, but he can't be moved on
this
And the strangest part of the guides
story is that it IS true.