The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-10-15


Baxter was q confirmed woman hatcr,
So much So, indeed, that we believed that
hs was as firmly lodged on the rocks Of
bachelorhood as Grcat Britain is on Gil
bsaltar. And yet he had marriott
There was no inkliilg Of his prospective
marriage about tho Office, but after it had
happened we recalled that he had appeared
absoatninded, and also that his story,
.Fighting Against Fate, 4 running as q
serial in The Alpaca Magazine For Young
Girls. was teelning with love-a topic, by
the way, he had never before attempted.
Baxter had gone on a wedding tour-a
."spoonin junket, = tho office boy called it
and every day we counted the hours be-
fore he would roturn and let us knew all
of the particulars. One of the reporters
had learned that his wife was a young
miiliner who boarded at the Same place he
did. 1t was not learned necessarily for
publication, but as . guarantee of good
faith.
The two weeks finally ended, and Baxter
returned to the Office, and, what is more,
brought his wife with him. She was a
quiet little woman and during the half
hour she was about scarcely said q word
but yes or mo-, and she was not very
pretty, just passably good looking
One day, there being q lull in the work,
Baxter spoke up and told us this:
ssOf course you are all reading Fighting
Against Fate now running as a serial.
Well, that was an entirely new line for
me, for it tells Of q gay young man who
WA always making love to some girl. As
you are aware, ! knew nothing about such
business, never spoke a word of affection
to d girl in all my life, but as that was
the kind Of a story the magazine wanted,
and as they had offered me good prize,
why, such a story 1t had to haye,f How
well I succeeded in filling their wants you
must judge"
Its a beaut, " interrupted the office
boy.
Thanks, +" said Baxter and went on. 81
studied the subject over for several days.
and finally I decided that the only way for
me to get the spirit OF my hero and give
him life was TODD as he did. When made
up my mind to do that, l just put on a
bold face and started out. / tackled the
landlady first, but she did not take kindly
to my ways, and then l tried a woman
who lives next door and with whom / had
a slight acquaintance.
ssThat woman was all right when it
came down to a Irritation. We were get
ting along swimmingly; had got SO far
along that one night I actually pressed
her hand. Things were getting to be a bit
dangerous, and her husband interfered. |
told him my object, and he said solne
things about literary men that my religion
prevents me from repeating.
1T was about this time that a quiet,
modest little woman came to board at
house. She worked in a down town store,
and as she seemed to be all alone in the
world I singled her out as my victim. She
had no husband or brother to come be-
tween us. In fact, she was just the woman
| had been looking for. As soon as I saw
her / knew that I could do the story / was
scheduled to write Justice. So / began
with her the second night she was there,
and / was very well satisfied with my first
experiences, for / went back to my room
and drafted the principal features of the
story.
1--WE got along s~plendidly. Inside of a
week was reading Maud to her, end
the second week we began on Lucille and
had tackled about all the poems of that
kind. Why, that's what / was doing SO
much Of the time in the exchange room
cutting out sentimental poems. Then we
used to talk about the moonlight and all
that sort of thing. The more | went on
the more interested / became. We were to-
gether all the time. When we didn't have
anything to talk about, we'd sit close to-
gether and hold each Others hand and ST.
lentIy look at the wall.
aOh, it was awful
"Of course there was some guying going