Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1899-03-14
AN OLD FOGY'S LOVE STORY.

baitt ID bN lon1ot, 4 pt' 49,
compromisingiy and Individually bald
do not feel quite so old as my years
would make me out to be.
1t is true that am little wheezy in
the chest at times, and rheumatism has
rod and fly | think I can still teach
them trick or two, and at billiards
the odds are generally acknowledged to
rest with the old buffer.
In my day have had more to be
proud of than they, for l have had a
not altogether unsuccessful life-no,
honors at least l have had a brilliant,
if not great, career. Lucky
"Woodburu" will do, It's near enough
was the name by which men knew
me at the bar, though tits only the old
er generation now which will be able
to recall it; unless, indeed, some dill
gent and soberminded student, digging
among the archives Of the past, should
perchance unearth a certain book on
torts and see the name on the title
page Of this, alas! now Anticipated vol
ume.
Then l am back again walking in
schoolboy cap and Jacket along the
Avon banks with Hetty Price-bright,
laughing, quizzing Hetty. All! what a
sad havoc her merry brown eyes made
in my youthful studies. She lost me
the Latin prize, and was the uncon-
scious cause of getting me more than
one good swishing; and old Nobs = he
became Bishop afterwards-could lay
it on, too. But, nevertheless, l would
not part with that period of my life
in spite of the swishings and for all
the prizes that ever fell to the lot of IL
S-bury boy.
It was q bright, merry, mischieyous
face which ever played hide-and-seek
upon the pages Of my books, and it
was a corner by the river that / ever
saw In my minds eye when should
have followed Cyrus in his intermin-
able wars, or hammering out irregular
verbs with old LIE Broeq, the French
master. And the fellows wondered
what was up with old WOODBURY.,
whose interest in cricket ha gone,
and ever preferred his own company
to that Of his fellows.
Every half-holiday, when the others
focked to the cricket nets or the fives
courts, l betook myself off on mine
own business, meeting Hetty now
here, now there, as the necessity for
secrecy demanded.
She was, l found, curious mixture
Of sound common sense, which was
her own, and romantic aspirations,
which she had acquired from "Bow
Bells" and such like literature.
Her great ambition in life was to go
on the stage, and it was of this that
she dreamed as she polished up the
glasses behind the bar or drew tank
ard Of ale for Ben Hoskins, the carter,
who winked his eye in un-Romeolike
fashion as the cool home brewed went
down his dusty throat. But" as she
shrewdly remarked, II am not such a
fool as to throw up the Farmers for
an uncertainty; I am waiting for a
chance"
"Bow Bells, "Bow Bells" Hetty;
many a one has, like you, longed and
hoped for the fairy who is "going to
change all that" and waited, waited,
until at last there comes not the good
fairy, for she is away in other folks
concerns, but wrinkle here, gray
hair there, and stern reality to obliter-
ate the rosy dreams Of youth.
Not long after this left S--bury,
through causes which do not concern
US now, and saw no more Of Hetty
Price.
Our farewell was tender. At the
time thought it the bitterest pang
of my life.
Once only 1 heard from her-long
years after, when I was no longer
amenable to school discipline; and as
her letter makes much plain, do not
hesitate to produce it in full. I have
1t still by me somewhere. 1t ran:
"Dear Mr.. WOODBURY.: You will
doubtless be surprised to hear from me
after all these years, but thought you
might like to know how things are 60
ing on. There is also another reason,
as the inclosed will show.
well, I remained at the Farmers
for long time after you left-much re-
gretted-waiting for the chance which
was so long in coming; but it came at
last. answered an advertisement,
and left the monotony Of the Farmers
for the wider stage of a travelling
company, by which means I hoped to
reach the heights Of fame.
Eighteen months passed by, but,
alas. the fame was as far off as ever,
and the discomforts present; and while
at oilC lilhC l civ leu LuOS6 Dtullu lLt
footlights, now grew to envy those in
front, until at last I wished myself
back again.
"The chance came, and, as you see.
I am here once again; not in my old
capacity, however, for I have entered
into permanent engagement, having
under conditions, theater of my own,
being manageress and part owner
thereof.
"In this business I am associated
with another, whose name may be
seen on the playful over the door-to
wit: Joseph Maddox, once miller's
foreman, now landlord Of the Farm
ers'.
"Now, if ever you come to s.
again, perhaps you will come and have
tea with us, if you have turned teato-
taller; or glass of beer, If you have
not, and / will draw it myself for the
sake of old times-that is, of course,
If you forgive Joseph, who, 1 fancy,
has something to say. From, yours
with kindest remembrance,
''HETTY MADDOX,
IOnce Hetty Price)"
Heigho! So Hetty Price had mar.
ried Joe Maddox. This, then, was the
end of her ambitions Lord, how jeal.
Gus used to be of Joe, and Joe doubt.
less of me! How mad, too, I should
once have been If I knew that Joe
would marry Hetty! But somehow
now I felt that it was only as it ought
to have been in the fitness of things.
Anyhow, all is fair IN love and war
l suppose. Good luck to them both,
and long may the Farmers Arms -four.
ish. And sent them present, and
at dinner that night I drank to the
success of the Farmers Arms and the