Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-12-22
Mariovie' S .VdeaV

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Talk of ideals'' snld Miss Alison.
mo. of course, | never have ideals.
They're mere waste of time"
| meckly pleaded that, having passed
through the stage Of youth and disillu-
sion. | had fallen from the paths OF en-
hghtenmont md reverted to my prim.
Tive superstitions-n belief in ideals and
their tendency to elevate and educate
the human race at large.
Ideals" she repeated scornfully. "are
the peculiar property of uneducatcd
youth or''-and here she regarded me
Gxedly--'second childhood"
/ WINGED and involuntorily strokcd the
back of my head. Between you and me,
the hair is getting a trne thin just where
the parting begins.
Just look mt what has happened to
Marjorie" she continued. There's
case in point" +
''What happened to Marjorie"
asked
'She's going to be married" answer
ed Miss Alison tragically. you know
the girl i mcan-Marjorie Delafcd. She
Is very young: she was only presented
last season, and when she came to town
she was crammed full of-of ideals. She
lived in sort of beautiful dream evolved
entirely out of her own vivid imagination.
OF course there was hero in 1t. He was
magniicently tall, with the courage of a
lion, the physique of Hercules and Mar
cissus amalgamated, the heart of Bay
ard and the wit Of Rochefoucauld. She
was to marry him after falling In love
Mt first sight, and they were to live
happily ever after
Marjorie was sitting with me one
day in my boudoir when the. letters were
brought In. Among others was one from
my cousin, Jack Errington. He had
been fighting somewhere out in the north
OF India--Chitral or Afghanistan, or
some such place. never can remember
names--apd, thinking 1t might amuse me,
he wrote me long description of what
had been going on.
"One thing that he mentioned was the
fact that N Captain Temple, n great
friend of his, hnd been recommended for
the Victoria cross. Il hope to goodness
he'll get IT. Jack wrote. i never saw a
pluckier thing In all my life. 1t was on
the night Of the 23d, when the gentle na-
tive was trying to rush us. Our fellows
were getting awfully cut up, and we
were compelled to clear out Of the ba-
zaar. We had just taken up n position
on some rising ground about 200 yards
back when we heard some one yelling
for help ont of the darkness
"Temple was standing close to me at
the moment. "Good Lord" said he,
there's some poor devil got left be-
hind" The next thing saw was Tenn
pic cutting across the open space by
himself for all he was worth. Temple
went straight on in the direction OF the
cry. l saw little knot of swordsmen
make for him. He lodged them, drop
ping two with his revolver as he ran,
and reached one of our men, who was ly-
ing on the ground, shot through the
thigh
"'He only got there Just in the nick of
time. Getting ono arm round the fel-
low, he raised him up and kept the
brutes of. gradually retreating all the
time, until ut last some more Of our
fellows came up with them and got
them into comparative safety.
"'How he had managed to keep on his
legs so long don't know, as he had
two bullet wounds and nasty cut across
the forehead. Every one says he's sure
OF a v. e.
There said l, laughing, that's the
man for you to marry. What do you
think of him p u,
"I think it's wonderful said Mar
jorie softly. He must be awfully brave
and strong
"'Quite your ideal hero, In fact snid
/. We'll, you'll have every opportunity
of meeting him, for he's on his way
homo with Jack, and they're both COM
ing to stay with us n bit.'
How lovelvV said Marinria 81
should SO like to meet him!' and began
planning dresses for the ultimate cap
tivation of her ideal.
"About a month later Jack and Cap
tain Temple arrived. Marjorie was stay
ing with me for n few days to help me
amuse them.
"They arrived Just In time for lunch
con. Jack came in first. followed by n
little. lean, bronzed man, standing about
D feet =. with funny, bristly mustache,
for all the world like an emaciated tooth
brush. The only two good points about
him were his voice. which was very
pleasant one, and his eyes. which. though
of no particular color and all screwed up
from the glare Of an Indian sun, had n
merry twinkle in them.
IAN through luncheon she sat and
stared at him in a vague, Mortified sort
OF way and never spoke to him il she
could possibly help it; after which she
retired to her room on the first oppor-
tunity. and cried till her eyes were red
"'What's the matterY ] asked when
saw she'd been crying.
"'Oh, Maud she said, I d-don't b-be-
lieve it's him! He's so ugly! He's lit
tie wretch! I'll never speak to him
againv
"'Well,' said inquiringly as Miss
Alison seemed to think she had finished,
is that allT
"Oh. Of course. was forgetting for
the moment. You don't know that
they're engaged, 1t happened about a
month ago.
"She stands half head taller than
he does, but she's horribly afraid Of him
and abjectly devoted. You see. she's
given up yoafning after an impossible
ideal kind OF creature. who would have
bored her TO death in fortnight even
II she had found him. My good sir,
don't talk to me of ideals. They're fid-
dlesticks!"-Home Chat.