Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1898-05-13
RUTH II a RTEN.

RUTH H TEN
! Well, I'm glad Ruth Harten has oomG
back home again before her old father
ends his days. 1856.
This remark was offered by very old
man who sat in a corner grocery store.
Who did you say Ruth Harten wasp'ss
asked the proprietor of the store. .x
Ruth Harten-don't you know, shes,
the daughter Of old man Harten, who lives
in that cottage over there said the old
gentleman ~ .*.:.E -.
| Queer old man. r. -. u. 81.
| Tt 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. .-.=~ ~ a.. &C., .,. :
''Harten came to Chicago maybe 90
years ago. His wife had died, but he had
| his daughter Ruth. She was the very ap'
pie of his eye, and a bright, pretty girl she
was, too, with blue eyes and brown hair,
and In those days girls wore their hair ill.,
a long plait down their backs. You see,.
| we were neighbors, Harten and !. Ny
| house was next to his, but sold it years.
ago and moved farther down the street.
As said, Harten just dotted on his daugh--
ter.Ruth and had made up hi1 mind tbat
| 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 a pretty good plan, eug>
gested the storekeeper. "Did 1t work."
"Plans don't always work out Just az
| you've made them, said the old man,
especially with young people. Ny boy
Will was then as fine fellow 40 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 faraway absent look came into hi6
dim eyes.
"Did he marry Ruth?" asked the gro
! Dery man rather conclusively.
"He loved Ruth, answered the old man
sadly, land Harten wanted them to mar
~, because he knew that then he would
never lose Ruth, and wasn't against IL
either, for Ruth was fine girl. It seemed
sort of natural for US to think of those
two young people getting married. They
bad been playmates when they were littler
and her parents called her Ruthie, and We
called. him Willie Winkum, and then
sweethearts when they went to school to-
gether, and just like lovers when they.
were grown up, SO nobody expected any
| thing else but that they would be mar
ried."
II suppose they did, then," said the
| groceryman.
"No,' said the old man; "you know
the unexpected always happens, and liz
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. Thera
was visitor at this house, 9 young fellow
about the boys own age. He was
| Swede, if I remember 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 it was to have him visit them, and g.
great deal more like that"
"Nonsense," said the grocery man.
"Of course Ruth Harten was the pref
TEST 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 f1attered by his attentions and
forgot all about Will 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-
ter marrying and going away to 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 alb
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.
EYES, that's how Harten has lived, like
a hermit, right here in the heart Of the
city, for nearly 20 years. he went on.
"but the other day met him on the street.
just in front of his house. It's the first,
time be had spoken to me in years, and he
held out his hand in q glad sort of way,
and, pointing toward the house, said:
doesn't it look like old times, neigh
Dor? And Ruth has come homer
"'RuthP cried.
eyes he said, and she has broughts
back with her another Ruth who looks
just like she did 20 years ago." K.
The old man had finished his story and
rose and went out. The grocery man
drummed on the counter softly for q few
minutes and then went to wait on some
customers. ~.< 80. x- .s-- { 49, 90. .
"That's queer story" be said to him
sef.-Chicago Tribune. ~ r. %:~r.l (.
English Courts Martial.
An English officer Of high standing and
Of great experience, writes as follows:
Courts martial are open courts The
public Is admitted. There is no secrecy
t.AS n - IL. - A. -