The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1898-06-16
: RUTH HARTEN.

'weIl, I'm glad Ruth Harten has come
back home again before her old father
ends bis days
This remark was offered by very old
man who sat in a corner grocery store.
"who did you say Ruth Harten wasp
asked the proprietor of the store.
Ruth Harten-don' you know, she's
che daughter of old man Harten, who lives
in that cottage over there" said the old
gentleman.
"Queer old man. "
at isn't to be supposed you know much
about him. said the old man. at was
long before your time. It's going on to
nigh 30 years since Ruth Harten left
home
"Let's hear about it" said the grocery
man.
"Harten came to Chicago maybe 40
wears ago. His wife had died, but he had
his daughter Ruth. She was the very ap-
pie of his eye, and bright, pretty girl she
was, too with blue eyes and brown halr'
and in those days girls wore their hair IN
a long plat down their backs. You see,
we were neighbors, Harten and l. My
house was next to his, but l sold 1t years
ago and moved farther down the stree'.
As said Harten just dotted on his daugh-
ter Ruth and had made up his mind that
she shouldn't ever leave him, but when
she married which was likely enough, she
and her husband should live with him to
take care of him in his old age and then
have all his property.
"That seemed pretty good plan, sug-
0ested the storekeeper. did it work.
"Plans don't always work out just as
you've made them,'' said the old man,
respectfully with young peolIe. My boy
VIII was then as fine fellow as could be
found in this whole town-tall, broad
shouldered-but he's been dead now q
good many years. The old man broke OFF,
and a faraway absent look came into his
dim eyes.
"Did he marry RUTH" asked the gro
Gerry man rather conclusively.
HHe loved Ruth, :" answered the old man
sadly, "and Harten wanted them to mar
~, because he knew that then he would
never lose Ruth, and I wasn't against it
either for Ruth was a fine girl. 1t seemed
sort of natural for US to think of those
two young people getting married. They
had been playmates when they were little,
and her parents called her Ruthie, and we
called him Willie Winkum, aud then
sweethearts when they went to school to-
Rether, and just like lovers when they
were grown up, so nobody expected any
thing else but that they would be mar
ried.''
at suppose they did, then," said the
groceryman.
"No," said the old man; "you know
the unexpected always happens. and it
happened in this way. 1t was the middle
of winter and the snow lay deep on the
ground Will and some of his chums got
up party to take the girls out sleigh rid
ing. They all met at one of the boys
homes over on Dearborn avenue. There
was visitor at this house, young fellow
about the boys own age. He was a
Swede if I remembe rightly, who had
come over to this country on some kind OF
official business. Anyhow, the folks where
he was stopping seemed to think good
deal of him and talked about how he was
a foreign aristocrat, and what high hon
or 1t was to have him visit them, and a
great deal more like that.
Nonsense, said the grocery man.
"Of course Ruth Harten was the pref
tiest girl in the whole party-she always
was-and what did that young foreigner
do but fall in love with her at first sight
Ruth felt fatterad by his attentions and
forgot all about viii and how he had been
waiting for her and loving her for so many
years. and one day she told her father she
was going to marry the young Swede.
"There was an awful scene. Harten
could not bear the thought of his daugh-
Ger marrying and going away to a foreign
country. The young man pleaded in vain.
Harten forbade him the house, but one day
Ruth was missing. She had left home the
evening before and married the young
Swede, and, taking the first train, they
were far on the way to New York before
her father had even noticed Ruth's abb
sence. They sailed in few days for Swe-
den, but Harten's heart was broken. He
never opened the letters that Ruth sent to
him, but shut himself up in the house and
would have nothing to do with his old
neighbors. I never heard how Ruth got
along, or whether she was happy in for
eign country. She never wrote to any of
her friends, and her father would let no
one speak her name.
"Yes, that's how Harten has lived, like
q hermit, right here in the heart of the
city, for nearly 90 years. he went on,
''but the other day met him on the street
just in front of his house. It's the first
time he had spoken to me in years, and he
held out his hand in glad sort of way,
and, pointing toward the house, said:
"'Doesn't it look like old times, neigh
Dor? And Ruth has come homeP
RUTH cried.
"'Yes, he said, and she has brought
back with her another Ruth who looks
just like she did 20 years ago.
The old man had finished his story and
rose and went out The grocery man
minutes and then went to wait ON some
customers.
"That's queer story" he said to him
self.-Chicago Tribune.