Middletown transcript., 1899-05-13

morning on his way in to wor!
he noticed among the passenger
who boarded the train at one (
the stations, a beautiful girl VIII
entered his car and took a sea
directly in front of his. Th
morning paper had no furthe
interest for Tom that day A
the way in town he sat watchin
the girl in front of him. I sha
not attempt to describe hel
Tom says she is the most beautt
full girl he ever saw Of cours
he is prejudiced, but I must ad
nit that I have only seen one gil
who surpassed her. However
that has nothing to do with m,
story.
What impressed my frient
even more than her beauty wa'
her extreme modesty-not the
timid, futtering kind qfmodesty
which is so easily initiated by the
heartless coquette, butthe strong
self-reliant kind, which makes
men keep their distance. She
did not shrink from the admirina
glances bestowed upon her by
every man in the car; neither did
she encourage them. She sim
ply ignored them. A man who
would attempt to fiirt with such
a girl must either be a fool OF be
gifted with unlimited assurance.
Tom was neither; sohecontented
himself with adniring her in sill
ence.
Week after week went On and
each day found poor Tom more
and more deeply in love. The
unconscious object of his ador-
alton travelled on the same train
every day. Sometimes she sat
near him and his eyes nearly de-
voured her wonderful beauty.
At other times she sat at the
other end of the car, where he
could only catch occasional
glimpses of her past the heads
of his fellow passengers. One
day he made a great discovery.
Her name was Helen. He had
heard girl friend call her so.
That night Tom sat up until
three o'clock writing love letters
to Helen, and tearing them up as
fast as he wrote them.
Inc next morning Helen again
occupied the seat just in front of
Tom. He sat gazing at her and
building castles in the air. Pre-
sently his mind turned to the
love letters he had been writing
and hebegan to frame a new one.
AS he mused, he idly fingered
the window catch, which made
a clicking sound similar to that
of telegraph instrument. IN
consciously he spelled out the
words of the letter.
dearest Helen, !" ran the mes
sage, 81 love you dearly. Say
you will be mine, and" but he
got no farther, for suddenly the
girl turned in her seat and looked
him full in the face, her eyes
with Indignation. Then
she turned back and Selling the
catch on her window, clicked out
the reply:
tHow dare you?"
Tom was completely dumb
founded. He felt like jumping
out OF the window and ending his
miserable existence. He reflect
ed, however, that such a rash
proceeding would do him no
good and might possibly wound
the feelings of the young lady.
Moreover his first duty was to
apologize. Of course it would
not do any good. She would |
never have anything to do with |
such an idiot as he had shown |
to be. Still he could not |
veil leave matters as they were, !
20 he again reached for the win |
low catch.
Il beg your pardon clicked |
he improvised key.
''Your insolence is unpardon-
Ible,' was the reply.
"But let me explain. I didnot
"I don't care to hear your ex-
just then the train pulled into
he station and the offended girl
eft the car without SO much as
ooking back.
Tom went to his work with a
leayy heart He could think of
lothing else all day but the stu
I'D blunder which had destroyed (