The Holly chieftain., 1898-11-18
LOVE WON AT CHESS

LOVE WON AT CHESS
The bashfnl nAa in low M bsea ! stsSa1
! Joke for Asss, but l faiiea - sea snythiaie
humorous Ia the situation " | AT q n
loved ones snug front psrior, withm : ~
feet Of the object Of my affections, exclianee
| ing commonplsces upon ordinary topfer
whilst the splendid things I had pesvious1y
intended to say ran coldly down NJ ba1ll.
trembled awhile at my meeA md a1allyI
oosed out Of my boot, waited and uaspezsn,
and al because Of my accursed bA6Afulrsss.
80 ! said nothing. and. as DE did NJ speak
the dlence soon became oppressive, Jntl ~
last felt forced to do something, 70 I poen4-
| ed to set Of ehsaGmsn anA inquired:
"Do you play chess, Min Thuscovf~
mo" shs rsptsd. "lnt I shonid ~ ~
| 1sarn.s
Thia sppnerel encouraging. quiehly -.
ieses and prepared fera 6n1hof
then SIikhs dSened u1on n, and S1 ~
bad ones morst for yskrd pre- " 80
hr bow TO ply ~. .tts ~ 6ssE s51slls7
me.
70. do explain this to me, Mr.. Black. 1
feel deeply mystifed; my curiosity 81
sroused. What do al these funny thines
ucanr
She spoke % charminsly, and loohsd -
delightfully."- puzzled, with such . quaint lit
tie frown on her forehead, and With her lips
pensively pursed in such most aggravatine
manner, that felt forced to proceed.
"Er-cheu ID a-very-ancient game"
talterintiy said, and then collapsed once
moro.
How nicel" shs answered. II love old,
games. But what il this" she exclaimed.
holding up the king for my inspection.
THAT is the king" replied. and then
proceeded to iIlustrste its moves and value.
'What . curious ATARI" she said. The
king Is 20 important and yet 80 helplsas; il
he l. lost al Is lost. although it may not be
his fault in the least"
"No, perhaps the queens, !" Iventured to.
ny. you see, the queen has such variety
Of moves, and Is supposed to be able to pro-
tect and fight for her royal consort."
TT is evident that you chessplayers be-
ieve greatly in the abilities Of NJ ladies, =
she laughingly replied. "But do please tell
me, what Is this" she asked, pointing to the
castle.
20, that Is rook, or castle, /" l explained.
Then let Us call It castle, she said. I'VE
have already got . king and queen, and now
. castle seems appropriate; besides, 1t sounds
90 much more respectable than 'rook.'"
The knight next attracted her attention,
and I had TO explain the difficult technicah-
ties involved in the knights move. Tn
afraid l made rather poor show. but shs
seemed quite fascinated. and said:
This u really romantic, am sure. Just
fancy the valiant knight bravely springing.
from square to square, fighting madly for hin
king and queen. and finally perishing noblH
in an heroic attempt 70 capture the enemya
castlel"
smiled; could not help it; my nervous
ness was vanishing fast, and felt more At
ease. The bishops quite won her heart, and
the idea of the church militant, II only on =
chessboard. amused her immensely. Thsn
she got TO wondering what kind Of soldier
the rector Of St. Marks would make.
II could neysr imagine hims eeptusing =
.aIalls .'aIs; saas as. iss 8 ss s.ss ss,s.s. ~!
he couldn't fight
That rilsd me little. for the rector Of g.
Marks was bachelor.
Then the pawns took her fancy ak onee;
she called them dear little things" and
proceeded to give me . sweet little lecture
about the usefulness Of humble things, usinG
the pawns - An llustration. And wh1n !
explained that they might possibly bsconne
queens, or castles, then she waa IN rspturea,
and declared it was just like private spl-
der fighting his way up to the rank Of gen
eral.
BY this time felt quite bold, and wr
chatted away about the game for soms tina
until at last she remarked:
II wish could write stories; I'd write
one about chess. First, should make lnN
king and queen live In the castle, and 80 out
and fight the opposing hosts Of the enemy
and return victorious, escorted By thatf
faithful knights and pawns; and then
Then what? exclaimed, eagerly.
'Why should use the bishops for the In
evitable wedding, Of course" she said, look
ing bard At me, and blushins. 0, % prsttlys
| turned cFimson To tho roots Of my hair
and suggested that We had better commshct
to play, 90 that could make more progress
game that followed was very nice, and ex-
temely interesting. but II was anything you.
ike-except chess.
She moved in most unconventional man
ner, ana transgressed every rule Of the
game; but she seemed to think she was pro
sressing. and had not the heart TO unds,
ceive her. However, ventured to remon-
strste feebly when abe naively attempted r.
annex my queen, in spite Of ths fact that II
was protested ~ two otksf pisces ard I
pawn.
"You can only msvs your gussa ovse ~
snoccupisd squsrss,S informed her.
Dear me, wAat nuiAncsi" ahs 1sQAsd
How css Insuvs Il, thsn!
sndeavorsd 70 slucidats ~ mystssy -
Ia, and abe lsansa over tAs board lnl
lsoesA straight u n, her faes IN aglow w6th
Attention aud interest. Upconseiossly / alsH
leaned forward, un41 our fases nearly INST
ever the center ef the board.
was looking at hsr, she vA looking At
me; who was looking ct tn chsssmea can
NOT say. Then noticed The snell Of violska
my dead mother always wore violets. This
decided me; would
Ctssh! The white king fsli 70 Tie fioor,
displaced by her sleeve; she picked il up and
tried to replace it, but she had forgotten its
exact position, and, after vainly trying sew.
sral squares, fhe gave up in despair.
watched her dainty fingers posing over
the board, and reproached myself because
. certain ring that had long carried in my
waistcoat pocket was mot yet in its proper
place. Al last she sighed sliehtly and said:
Chess is difficult game, ara how clever
you must be to play 20 WE'LL Twish ] could;
but they say that it takes q lifetime to learn
to play chess"
"Yes," replied, "and will use NJ life
time in teaching you how to play-that Is,
OF course, ii you viii consent"
q. y If.