The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-02-23
WALKED THE PLANK.


ago, when was young and foolish. The
belle Of Fishponds 81 that time was Mar.
jory Jones, the miller's daughter. She
was pretty girl, too, oan tell you. As
you may suppose, she had plenty Of sweet
hearts
"There was jack Smith, the larkiest fell
low in the village. Wasn't he wild! In
our opinion Jack stood the best chance
with the fair Marjory. Jack was suck
ing lawyer then; Bill Smith, his cousin,
Ted Whereat and l were farmers, and Tom
Runins was dealer.
"We Ave reckoned that Marjory ought
to belong to one Of us, and we formed
league offensive and defensive. One
night Jack and I had staid till old
Jones turned us out, and as we stood out
side the gate we heard her silyery laugh as
ths old man growled at being kept out o.
bod by passel o. young wosbuds
"'George,' said Jack Smith, I've got
an idea. You come to my rooms tomorrow
night, and I'll get Ted and Bill and Tom
to come In. Then, if they are agreeable,
we'll just make that young woman come
to decision.
1.-THE next evening we settled down to
hear what Lawyer Jack had to say.
care you all In love with MarjoryP'
IA unanimous cry Of Yes followed.
"Look here said Tom Rumins, we
must settle this matter somehow or some
other fellow will be cutting us all out Let
us each write her proposal and send at
the same time.
"'Right, said Jack, and let's start fair;
let them all be put In the same words.
1--WE had better call for our answers
ourselves.
"tWhat, all at onoef'
mot exactly. One after another, and
we'll draw lots who goes first, and SO on.
"'You fellows will talk all night and do
nothing after all, cried Jack. You leave
1t to me- know moro about IL than you
do.
"DEAR MISUNDERSTANDING, as you do, the
warm affection have for you, you will not be
surprised II ask you to be mine and mine
alone.
"Will you marry me, dearest. Will you DO
the bride Of your devoted lover, -
"P. ST. will come round to the mill on
Tuesday evening at - O'Clock TO know my
fate.
"'Therer he continued triumphantly.
There! think that ought to fetch her.
I've left the name and the hour blank,
you see. <,
"Wo were not quite SO satisfied with
the letter as its author; but, as we did not
feel we could improve upon 1t, we at
length decided to adopt 1t, and forthwith
sat down to copy 1t off. Next we drew
lots to see who should go first, and, as
luck would have it, we came out in the
following order: Myself, $50; Bill, 7:45;
Ted, s; Tom, s:15; Jack, $3.50.
"'Just my luckp said jack, with
groan. Not ha p'orth of chance for mep
"'Why noR' said I. she knows you're
coming, and-hang 1t ALL wish wasn't
tirstp
II was quite serious when said I was
sorry was first, and sat thinking it over
with the help Of a pipe when 1 got home
Suddenly n thought struck me. jumped
up and cried, George, my boy, she's
yours' Then went to bed.
~ spent good while after tea that
Tuesday In adjoining myself, and wasn't
ready till 7. 1t was only ten minutes
walk to the mill, but then I had some
work to do before showed up there. 1t
was in the early spring, and the days were
still short.
az must explain that all five of us lived
on the Fishponds side of the Froome, and
80 we oil had to cross the footbridge, I'M
less we went mile out of our way to
cross the stone bridge at Broom hill. AT
that time there was only one railing to the
bridge, and it was SO rotten that it was
not safe to trust to it. The bridge itself
consisted of three planks resting on some
piers, and these planks were somewhat in.
secure.
"Now, this was my scheme: l would
cross tho bridge and then remove the mid
die plank. In the dark any one who came
after me would not notice the gap and
would 90 Cop into the water. 1t only
meant ducking and that was what /
proposed to treat my rivals to.
~ was completely successful in displac-
ing the already loose plank, and at 1880
precisely marched boldly into the mill
'Evenin, Marjory, said I. l could see
she wasn't in the best of tempers, but
didn't appear to take any notice of it.
'Evenin, Marjory. Did
Look here, George Handbook, said
she, interrupting mo. What does this
mean? Do you boys think you're going to
make a fool of me by writing lot of love
letters and making a conspiracy against
meP Is that thing to be proud OFF Is it
manly Is it And here she burst into
tears.
"Now, now, Marjory said, don't be
angry We don't mean any harm
"'Harm,' she broke in, stamping her
foot on the floor. 'Harm How dare you
you mean fellows!
AFTER awhile she grew calmer and said
she would hear what the Others said when
they came. l had hard work to keep from
laughing at this, but just then heard a
splash.
"'Whats that9 asked Marjory.
Sounds like big pike jumping, said
l and went ON talking.
"By and by heard another splash, but
this time Marjory did not notice it. So
the time went on, and none Of the other
suitors put in an appearance. You would
not yourself If you were wet through,
would your
Ono, said I. laughing.
"Well by and by the miller came homo
and wanted to know what I was doing
there, 80 told him wanted to marry his
daughter. Well, to make long story
short, made things right with the old
man, and left the house as Marjorys ac-
copied suitor Mad with joy, was rush
ing home, when-splash! had forgotten
the missing plank and had fallen into my
own trap.
deserved you rightp said
ut was a good thing for me too. had
rheumatic fever and was in bed three
months. When / got about again, they
told me that Marjory had married man
In Bristol. He didn't get the best Of the
bargain.
"But l never told any one about the
plank. Exchange,