Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1898-02-09

ways will do, and then they decided that
they would put the $l00 and the $500 to-
gether, and, as that was the 1st of Feb
ruary, they would get married Feb. II
n valentine wedding" as Tom said and
then, when she said 'she never had had
q valentine" he laughed out of n heart
just bubbling over with sweetness, and
love, and merriment, and told her ''he
would be her valentine and she would be
his" and then lie kissed her, and Meg
was in such IA state of delight that she
forgot she ever had been lonely, and she
wouldn't have changed places with a
queen, even if the latter had insisted up
on ir.
As the time drew near for the wedding
Meg had a pretty new dress made and,
somewhat softened by the love affair
which had gone forward directly under
her supervision, the landlady had made
preparations for wedding supper which
was to outdo any previous effort of the
kind in the neighborhood. Indeed, she
had resolved that for once she would be
cxtravagant, and she got out several an
cient receipts. which were headed Bride
Cake" and set to work beating eggs and
weighing sugar In II way which made the
kitchen sculioh to declare, in a confiden-
tial manner, to the garbage man, that
"Missus 'peared to be little teched in
her upper story" and gave as her reason
for her conclusion that "She was a-mak-
in cake to beat sixty"
4 few days before the time set for tn.
wedding the weather, which had been in
that condition known as ''muggy," turned
cold, and when Tom came around to bid
Meg good-by before going out on his run
for the last time before he claimed her
as his bride, he had powder of snow on
his collar and that strange, indescribable
smell of cold on his clothing which made
Meg snuggle up to him and say she was
sorry lie had to go out in the cold" and
then, as she kissed him in that motherly
way that comes natural to women when
they love, she asked him to ''be very care
full and watch his footing as he ran across
the tops Of the cars, which were sure to
be slippery because of the SNOW" and, at
last. she let him go.
St. Valentines morn dawned clear and
bright, although snow lay like bleached
linen wherever a heavy team or an early
pedestrian had not marred its purity. and
Meg arose light of heart and light of foot
to make the fnal preparations for her
union with the man she loved. She had
told the foreman on the previous evening
that she would not return to the factory.
and that hireling of men, who considered
humanity of her kind as merely adjuncts
to money getting had deigned to say in
an interlocutory fashion: Going to git
married, hey?'' Meg did not answer but
she felt such delight at leaving the huge
building, where she had been merely as
n piece of the machinery, that it seemed
to her she had never known freedom and
vaguely wondered if it really were She
Meg-who walked on air and was so hap
by that now and then she caught at her
heart lest it should beat aloud.
No. 207, which was Toms train. would
he in at 800 o'clock, and at 6, in the
presence of only one or two of the board
ers aild the landlady, the ceremony was to
Re performed Meg watched the clock,
out when the hands pointed to 4:30 she
concluded that the train was an hour late
and she would don the pretty gown so as
to be all ready when Tom came. She smii-
ed at her image in the glass as for the
twentieth time she shook ont the rustling
skirt and then ran hastily down to again
look at the clock 1t was 3 o'clock now,
and still Tom had not come, and ali at
once something like cold hand grasped
Meg's heart and she trembled as one with