The age-herald., 1899-06-11

"It certainly seems as if some power watched over the destinies of young girls, and guarded them-when they are good" the old bachelor said. He ought to know, l thought, having himself been a sort of honorary uncle and guide to as many as a dozen young girls in his time all of whom were happily married He was d phiian- thropic sort of a middle-aged man, with a very large experience of the world and it's ways.
 "Why, I've known cases where things came right just when the girl herself thought they were going hopelessy wrong,' he continued, seeing that we were all listening to him and ready for more. 'Now, there was that case in Florida with my dear young friend Ethel Berry. It looked like very sac case at one time, but it proved to be all for the best.
 "No, l don't mind telling you about it. You, none of you, know who Ethel Berry is. And, in any case, the thing never was a secret.
 "Well, of course, you know that all wo- men are afraid of mice. l would always be inclined to suspect a woman that was not afraid of mice, for my own part-I should regard her as something uncanny- It IpA llSdSOlS, SlISteSeHlS ana SpOllS - something not properly wornanly. But Ethels feeling about mice was really quite beyond the ordinary. On every other sub Ject she was as sound as a bell. You could not frlghten her with a gun. She could shoot pretty well and had actually killed several deer out in the woods. About snakes she felt pretty much the same hor- TOT that most people feel who have not been used to them from childhood. She was not by any means a nervous or fainting woman. But, somehow, she could not stand mice; I have even seen her jump away from little wooden penwiper, be- cause there was figure of a mouse on it, with beads for eyes-and she knew per fectly well that it was not a mouse too.
 When Ethel's mother took her to Flor ida, she made the acquaintance of a young Englishman there who was supposed to be engaged in the orange-growing business, and also supposed to be doing very well at it. Personally, he was liked by every body, not because his elder brother was said to be lord, but just for his own sake. He was gay, free-and-easy sort of youngster, sociable, good banjo player, always ready for a bit of fun, and nobody had a word to say against his character. Ethel and her mother had been in Florida nearly all the winter and they had seen much of this young man all the time, and the consequence was that the young man had told Mrs. Berry he intended to marry her daughter. Mrs. Berry said that must be as her daughter chose to decide Final ly, so far as anyone could judge, Ethel herself was inclined to favor the young man.
 "That was where the mice came in. The cottage which the Berrys had rented for the winter was a very fairly built sort of affair, not at all old, and not troubled with such things as mice. They had lived there from November to the end of February without even having been obliged to think of mice. But in February Ethel heard strange sounds by night in her bedroom.
 Mother, she said. I heard mice in my room last night, and you know as well l do that so long as there is any chance of 0 mouse being anywhere about that room I can't sleep in it.
 Mrs Berry knew perfectly well that this was no exaggeration. The girl had not slept more than one hour all the pre- vlous night, and that would not do. They rigged grass hammock for her in her mothers room-she could sleep all right in a hammock-and a-search was made for a mouse trap.
 Now, the town where the Berrys were staying was a nice enough little place in its way, but it was not a great commercial center. You could buy most things that winter visitors to Florida are likely to want but this did not include mouse traps The storekeeper said that he had never be- fore thought that there was any demand for mouse traps among his customers. He would send for a consignment of the new est make, however
 s'But this plan meant waiting for, per- haps, week. and letting the mice have their fling in the mean time. Ethel said she could still hear them in the next room at night and they kept her awake, al- though she felt more secure in the ham, mock in her mothers room. She was urg- ent to have those mice eXtermnated, and she was a young woman accustomed to have her will obeyed.
 This was a chance for the young man to prove his devotion. He had no mouse trap to offer the lady, but he had horse, and he could ride that horse far and fast He mounted at dawn and rode to port twenty-two mile away. where there were many ironmongery stores, and at night he returned in triumph, though little way Worn bearing the mouse trap.
 "It was a humble sort of mouse trap one of the wire cage kind, but the young Englishman thought it would do So dld Ethel She rewarded him with smiles and thanks, he was happy, and the trap. balted with codfish, was set.
 "That night Ethel again thought she heard stirrings, but in the morning, when her gallant came, early. to see how his tran had worked-she herself could not face the chances of seeing a mouse, even in captivity-it was found that the trap was empty.
 'sro tell the truth said the young man, T never had much confidence in this kind of trap Sorry didn't look for one of the other kind-wth a spring. you know And. come to think of it. I don't believe mice