Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-10-03
A HEART WON BYLOVE.

A HEART WON BY LOVE.
Commencement day! Day dear to
tie heart of every lassie for reasons
as varied as the make of the gowns of
the sweet girl graduate, as full Of
promise as the early spring with myri-
ads of blooms and poisoning fruit!
1t was an ideal day upon which oc-
Cured the graduation of 20 young
women in Nine. Fishers select board
ing school. It was not large, this in
stitution of learning and polished
manners, but it was very, very select.
When Ruth Kennerly entered the
school three years ago her father was
! one Of the most prominent railroad
men in the east. Her mother had
been dead for some time, and Mr..
! deal of pleasure to having his daughter
home with him at the end OF
the term. But it was decreed
! otherwise. In the Christmas holi-
days of her second year Ruth went
home to the death bed of her father.
After his demise it was found that he
left his only child handsome little
/ fortune, but that did not compensate
Ruth for the loneliness of her destiny
without him Her aunt, the youngest
sister of her dead mother, offered the
girl a home during her vacations, and
it was agreed that Ruth should live in
the family of her relative after her
graduation This aunt had arrived at
the school, accompanied by Prof
Atterbury, whose sister was class
mate of Ruth, and was to be gradu-
ated on the same day.
] Ruth Kennerly had not wasted her
opportunities and honors were show
cred upon her. She read the valedic-
tory and received the gold medal as
a reward for her many excellenctes of
conduct and scholarship.
Lucy Atterbury was not so we'll IA
vored but two learned parsonage
would have been too much for one
| family, her brother, the professor,
! fillingan important chair in north
ern university.
"What a beautiful creature!" whis-
pered the professor into Mrs. Chap
mans ear, as Ruth stepped forward to
read her essay.
Eyes, our girl has inherited her
mothers beauty replied the lady
with gratifed smile.
Ruth was tall and Gueenly of bear
! ing. The finely chiseled features Of
her face betrayed patrician blood and
unusual intelligence. Withal there
was the charm Of the child, pure, I'M
spoilt and modest in the highbred
countenance, and her large brown
eyes bespoke tender soul.
After the exercises Mrs. Chapman
introduced her niece to Prof, After
bury. The professor said many
fattering things to Ruth, and express
ed the hope that he might meet her
at one Of the watering places along
the Atlantic coast, where both the
Atterburys and the Chapmans had
planned to spend the summer.
Early in August the professor and
his sister registered at one of the
fashionable hotels at Narragansett
! Pier, where Mrs. Chapman had prom
! ised to stop during their summer out
ing, which was to begin about the
middle of July. Much to his astonish-
ment the professor not only failed to
lind the Chapmans at the Pier, but the
clerk in the hotel Office informed him
that they had Cancelled their engage
ment of suite of rooms, saying that
| they would not find it possible to
come. Lucy Atterbury had not heard
from Ruth since the day she babe her
| farewell in the parlors OF the school.
Her disappointment was almost as
great as that of her brother, and she
! immediately wrote to her friend, ad-
dressing the letter to her Philadelphia
i nome. In the course of week an an
swer came from Ruth, saying that she
had been i'll, and that Mrs. Chapman
had decided to take her to Europe in
stead. The letter was not as frank
an ingenious as those Lucy had re-
ceived from her colleague on former
occasions, and she feared that some
thing more than illness had come into
Ruth's life since they had laid aside
their books and diaries for the turmoil
OF the fashionable world.
How much her brother was disap-
pointed by Ruth's failure to come to
the Pier Lucy did not know just then,
but she soon suspected that he must
nave conceived more than a passing
interest for her friend, since he be-
came moody and irritable, and sudden
ly announced to her one day, that he
was obliged to go to Philadelphia on
, pressing business.
1t was one of the hottest of the
dog days in August that he arrived in