The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-02-12


speculation as 10 who sent the insult.
his mind settled upon depraved young
fellow who recently had fallen from
grace; so, mounting his mule he rode
to the house OF the miscreant, thrashed
him soundly. returned home and re-
Sumed his work on a sermon entitled,
The Wages of Sin" This bit of enter
prise so lifted the preacher in the minds
of his people that he was given a horse
and pair of socks. knit by one of the
oldest women in the community. And
that was the end of the comic valentine.
The sentimental variety has also his
tory, somewhat longer and with mere
of the bearings of human interest. In
all neighborhoods, remote from centers
CT progress, there lives a young fellow
whom the neighbors cannot exactly I'M
derstand. His appearance is odd and
his mind is given to strange capers.
His earliest disgrace was his lack of
Judgment regarding horse; latterIy
lie brought upon himself an additional
disrepute by making the poorest guess
concerning the weight of hog. 1t re
quires many years to live down two
such blights as these, and during the
time when the young fellow should find
most enjoyment in society. he is Knocked
by boys and Uttered at by girls. Such
blot had fallen upon Tab GRANGE. of the
Bledsoe's Cove neighborhood. But he
had many virtues. easily pointed out by
the old men of the community. Hewas
industrious. great virtue; he was
bright, a passable merit; and he had
nerve-almost religion. Still he was
no judge of horse and his estimate of
the weight of a hog was feeble. His
elders agreed that in time he might out
grow these faults and thereafter be-
come a useful member of society and
paSsable husband; still nothing but
time would serve 10 prove these kind
prognostics.
Of course. this neighborhood had TO
boast of belle. handsome. imperious, !
cold and somewhat tI'sa ~rpaablp girl I
And her name was Nell Brizentine. !
She really was handsome. but it was the |
social influence of her father that gave /
to her the undisputed right to reign as
belle. Old man BriZentine could look |
into horses mouth, squint a time or !
two at his teeth and tell almost his ex-
act age. He could predict drought or |
a long spell of rain; and hog had to |
trot at a lively gait to thwart the old |
mans guess at its age. There was no |
getting round such accomplishments. |
J. lal III
was accepted as the first young woman
Of the community. 1t was said that
after the proper time had passed. when
she had enjoyed to complete ripeness
the sway of social ruler. she would
marry Dave Hutch and settle down.
Dave was in every way worthy of her.
He could stand in half-bushel meas
1re and shoulder four bushels of wheat:
be could stand and jump eight feet
seven inches: he had beaten old Cap
Spears at pitching horseshoes; and he
had startled even old man BriZentire
~ guessing within ten ounces of the
weight of a white Chester SOW. brought
rom the river bottoms by a man named
Gets, who shortly afterward was shot
md killed by fellow named Horner.
Well, one ST. Valentine day. when old
3rizentine came home from the cross
'oads post Office, he brought a large,
square envelope for his daughter Nell
With a delicious wondering she seizedit,
md with a caseknife opened it to find
/ valentine, gold and lace. Upon it was
| flaming heart and in the blue letters
Icross the heart were the words: Il
owe you
Must be from Dave Hutch said the
I'D man.
NO" the girl spoke up; ''it's not from
linn. He don't believe in such things.
lie never slips around TO do anything;
lie does 1t right out"
Then who could have sent it? lisa I