Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-12-20

or trlle with men love the way other
girls do, counting it beneath me, and
waiting until the one man came whom
L meant to marry. L set my ideal and
laid my ambitious plans, and never
swerved-and for what? To step down
now to the highest bidder. Oh, who
knows the private demon that dwells
side by side with ones good angel in
the heart of woman like me? Does
any one dream of the tumult in my
heart when / carry such proud front?
Who can tell what is going on in the
heart of any woman who is making up
her mind to marry?
/ said to man last week, in the
sudden fierce bitterness of my soul,
do men and women ever marry from
belief that they are realizing the
grand passion of their lives?" And
something in my tone must have
stirred him to a sudden honesty, for
he gave me look as if he read my
soul, and he said, "Men do-always.
My eyes dropped before his. l did
not want him to see, although he is
only friend. He is one of those men
whom women trust because he UNDER
stands them
L turned away and thought what
blessed thing it is that men cannot
read the hearts of the women they are
going to marry. L sometimes com.
plain because men are not constituted
to understand women better, and be.
cause they blunder and are blind.
But it is a heavenly thing that it is
SO, and L suppose God made it so with
a purpose.
know so many women who carry
an ache in their hearts which their
husbands never suspect; sometimes
for a love they have lost; sometimes
for one that never came; sometimes,
like mine, for one they dare not take.
L am glad Mr.. Finch cannot see
into my heart tonight. But I am
more glad that Joe cannot-Joe be-
cause he would want me, and Mr..
Finch because he would not want me.
Dear Joe! Why couldn't it have
been you who gave me this ring, with
this beautiful red stone in it? And
why couldn't it have been you who
was coming tomorrow for my an
swer? Dear Joe!
L might as we'll face the fact. Mr..
Finch bores me, repels me, sickens
me. If he had the right to come in
at that door and walk across this
room and stoop over my chair, and 1
had to sit still and let him touch me,
and not scream or strike him for dar-
ing to lay his hand on me, L think L
should die.
And yet-outside the door, outside
the house people would say-oh,
they would say all the things L want
them to, and envy me, and copy my
clothes, and-Joe! Joe would say
nothing.
1t was so easy to rise to higher
plane when he was here that he
thought me greater than l was. He
appealed to the best in me, always.
My good angel came out of her own
accord at his approach, and then poor,
dear Joe went away thinking L was
saint. He never knew the demon of
unrest and ambition and vanity which
fought his influence step by step, un-
til finally devil, dressed all in red,
came and flashed this red stone before
my eyes, and L have put Joe and his
great, kind love behind me forever.
''If men wooed nobler, won they
nobler wives" he used to say. Yet I
have proved that untrue. Surely he
wooed me nobly, and what did 1 do?
1 wouldn't rise to his plane. L would
MT be as noble as he thought me. 1
laughed and hurt him, and he never
reproached me. He always said / was
better than 1 allowed people to see.
He always believed in me and defend
ed me even against my own actions
and my own words, and loved me be.
yond any other love 1 ever have known.
Oh, Joel
Hark There are wheelsl They are
stopping herel 1t is after 9 o'clock.
Who can it be? 1t is Mr.. Finch. Oh,
what shall [ do?
n If only it had been Joe! wonder
if / dare? Well, why not? He would
come if 1 sent for him. And if it were
Joe! Ii only Joe were coming for his
answer
(She places Mr.. Finch's ring in its
box and seals the envelope containing
Joe's half penny.) She calls:
'Ellen, take that to Mr.. Finch, and
say that L cannot see him. And
Ellen, would you mind mailing this
letter for me tonight? 1t is very i'm
portant. Yes, nlght!"-Woman's
Home Companion.