The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-12-14
STRANGE MARRIAGE.

man with contradictory twinkle in his
eye. He had been introduced to the COM
pany a minute before by old Mr.. Stebbins
himself. 1 didn't catch his name at the
time, and / don't believe any one else did.
We learned it afterward, though, in a way
not to be forgotten. At first 1 thought it
was Mileson or Miteson Land, though it
wasn't, 1 will call him Miteson for the
present
"You wouldn't think - he continued,
''that sedate gentleman like Mr.. Steb-
bins could have been guilty of a hasty
marriage in his youth.
81 don't know what you call hasty, -
responded young Hyson, who had been
looking furtively at large photograph of
Miss Stebbins which graced the mantel.
''Mr. and Mrs. Stebbins correspondent for
three years. He told me SO himself. I
wonder what young people did before the
camera was invented The means of travel
were so slow and the mails SO uncertain
that, with no telegraph or telephone,
should think that lovers would have abso-
lutely required photographs. "
Sometimes they were better off with
out them" contradicted Miteson. Yes, -
in response to our looks of incredulity,
''some were undoubtedly benefited by the
absence of modern conveniences. Why,
myself owe my very existence to the tardy
appearance of Daguerre-
Having at last enlisted our attention and
silenced young Hyson, he ratified on like
bolt polisher.
'iYou gentlemen have all been to college
and remember how blank and empty the
world seemed when you first came out. I
know nearly died from sheer lonesome
ness the year after I graduated. There are
times when your heart goes out toward
the old associations and If there is a
girl there you half like you begin to love
her, and if you don't make her promise
if you can't remember her address you
try to find it or guess at it. Isn't it so2''
Even young Hyson admitted that it
was and sighed in the direction of the
photograph, though he is only an under
graduate.
''That - continued the speaker, sis the
way it was with a young man who was
born away back in the early thirties
and consequently in the days of and
10 cent postage and no daguerreotypes
He isn't sorry for that, though, even if it
does make him pretty old man by now
whom nobody but his wife dares to call
Henry any more.
Education was hard to get when he
was lad, but he managed, poor as he was,
to matriculate in an old college that is in
existence yet not far from the Catski1
mountains.
about a year after he got his degree he
was one day feeling blue, or spoony, to be
exact thinking of Molly Sharp, whom he
had dirted with in the silly fashion Of a
student. Then he saw in an old newspa-
per personal to the effect that Mr.. and
Mrs. John Sharp, with their daughter
Molly, had just returned to TarrytOwn
after brief visit to relatives in the cast
The east in those days meant New Eng
land, and Henry was vexed to think that
Molly had been in his own section without
his knowing it. But he had her address
now and GOULD write. She could do moth
ing worse than leave his note unanswered
1T happened that when Miss Sharp
read the epistle she was day dreaming over
her memories too. There was a certain
Henry who figured in them largely. She,
too, had gone to the little college up in the
hills, which was one of the first coeduca-
tional institutions in the country. She,
too, felt glad to get the address of an old
schoolmate. So she answered as soon as
maiden reserve would permit.
"You can imagine how things went
after that They correspondent regularly.
They recounted old interviews, stolen ones,
of course, INDUCED in at their peril. The
experience of everybody at school is prac
tically the same, SO I needn't recount the
particulars. Then they drifted to sheer
1ovemaking of the old fashioned, practical
sort, in which the words husband, wife
and housekeeping bore prominent part
Neither of the young people was rich, and
it wasn't the custom to waste in useless
galivanting and counting the money that
should be used in purchasing household
furniture. Besides, they had met fire.
quently during the blissful six months of
their early Irritation and were conse-
quently as well acquainted as they thought
necessary.
''Finally the day was set, and Henry,
after three years of wooing, undertook the
difficult journey to his intended for the
first time. He arrived three days before
the wedding and found her waiting for the
b stage, ready to accompany him over the
two or three lonely miles that lay between
them and home.''
Miteson stopped, heaving with inward
laughter.
81 don't see anything funny in thatl''
cried Tyson. 81 think it was rather nice"
He had voiced the sentiments of all, but
we listened when the narrator recovered
himself.
Nothing funny about it? Why, he
found himself face to face with a perfect
stranger, and she advertised to be his bride
within three days. He had been writing
to another Molly Sharp all the while. I
told you that all people had about the
same experiences at school, especially at
the same school, and lovers are all alike,
too, in one respectfully DON'T write
much about subluDary matters. So it
was small wonder that he never found out
his mistake until he saw her If they
could have exchanged photographs, it
would have been different and the romance
spoiled
but what did he doS' asked young
Hyson.
He fell in love with her on the walk
home"
''And she, " demanded-"sh had been
writing to the wrong person, too-er''-
"You must ask my mother, - interrupt
ed he, with the contradictory twinkle
more in evidence than ever
What yarn has my son been telling you
now?n asked old Mr.. Stebbins, who, with
his smiling wife on his arm, entered the
apartment
My sonl So that was what our host had