The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-02-05
THIS Is THE STORY
MACDONALD ROMANCE NOT as R0-
MANTIC AS IT COULD BE

1
Ii is True that he has Received an Invita-
ton to Visit Countess In Paris an
that She has sent Him Fifteen Rundre
Dollars to Blake the Trip on and bs
Asked Him TO Manage Der Affairs, bu
There the Romance Ends for siac
Donaid-The Countess Once a ChieaG'
Shop Grit
wellington, Kan, Feb. A grea
| deal of misinformation has been sen
out in regard TO Editor Macdonald Of
| Oxford, small town in this county.
There is romance in the MacDondald
| story, but just when it appears 10 be
most romantic, the curtain brings q
scene that staggers the too agile mag
| ination of the reader.
The statement has been generally
| made over southern Kansas and has
| crept into several eastern papers that
Editor Macdonald of the Oxford Reg
lister had been invited to visit coun-
tess in that queen Of cities, Paris; that
the countess was n old friend; that she
had sent her friend, Macdonald, 81, 500
for the expenses of the trip; and that
he was going.
This is true. but there are little de-
tails omitted which are vital 10 the ro-
nance.
Kansas is not land Of romance.
There is a hard actually about Kan
sas that stiles the inspiration Of nov
elist. The loving gallant Kansas loves
the gallant of any other country il is
true, but there are no duels to be
fought, rope-ladder ascents to his
lady's arms or anything Of the kind.
Kansas people do not work their lives
out in the corn fields and at last dis
cover a pot of gold TO keep them in their
old age, as they do in novels. Nor do
the Kansas girls, as a rule, elope with
dukes. or Kansas youths rescue duch-
eSses from besotted husbands.
So that when romance does occur
in Kansas, ii is of some little moment.
MacDonald's story is a romance, with
the romantic possibility taken out, as
will be seen.
This is the way the story goes and it
is correct substantially. Years ago
Macdonald, now a fine, tall, dark man,
every inch of him a courtier, knew a
little maid in Chicago. They were play
mates and school-Jnates and compan-
ions, scarcely anything more at their
ages. But the two drifted apart From
the best information neither suffered
particularly on account of the separa-
ton. At the end of many years time
Macdonald wound up in oxford where
he edited little paper. Meanwhile the
little girl ne had known drifted with
the help of an extraordinary favor
from Fortune into the high circles of
She worked in a large
store in Chicago. The proprietor and |
his wife became attached to her, took |
her to their home and adopted her. |
When they died their fortune, a con-
siderable one. was left to her. a Rus |
sian count, living as many of them do, |
in Paris. struck Chicago, met the |
young lady with the fortune, and mar |
ried her. They went to Paris to live. |
Soon the count died and the widow |
further enriched by pension from the |
Russian government, lives in opulence
in Paris still.
There is sad connecting link in this
story and it comes in here. A relative
Of Mr.. MacDonald's was killed by |
burglars in Chicago some three months
ago. The countess in her Paris palace
read OF it in the Chicago Inter Ocean.
She decided to find the companion of
her youth. She wrote to the Chicago |
police and they found the desired one
at Oxford. There was some cOrrespOn-
dence between the countess and her
long lost companion, and it ended in an
invitation to Macdonald to visit his old
friend. With this Invita- ton came ST.
800 and with this invitation it is said
came another invitation-for Mr.. Mac
Donald to take charge of the affairs Of
the countess.
Mr.. Macdonald will go to Paris next
month. He has turned his paper over
% a brother editor and with the excep-
ion that he promised 10 return he
makes no mention of his fortune in the
oxford Register.
This is the story. It is very romantic, |
n its way, but 1t cannot be as romantic
IS it could. People who think that Mr..
will go to Paris. that the
COUNTESS and himself will fall desper-
,tely in love win each other and that a
Kansas editor will step from company
# the office towel, the ink barrel, the
lell-bOx and the roller composition pot
o high church wedding in Paris, peo-
lie with this image in their minds
night best dismiss il.
Nothing of the kind will occur. Mr..
Macdonald is forty years of age. he has
/ wife and grown daughter and they
will go along, as will also his father
Who now lives in Chicago.