Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-09-21
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT.

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MFF - 10 9
They were walking home from even
Ing meeting. q,
allow long have we been engagedF
asked Ezra, after a silence.
Janet answered promptly, It'll be
fifteen years the 10th of next month.
"And day after tomorrow ] must
start for Florida"
Eyes" she said, 81 suppose II IS
best. 1t would be hard for you to stay
here through the cold weather when
you were so sick last winter. But you
can come back in the spring" she add
ed, trying TO be cheerful.
II have been thinking" said Ezra,
hesitatingly, "that fifteen years IS
good while for an engagement to last.
Don't you think it would be good
plan to end it before ! goT
She looked up at him quickly. DO
you mean that you wish to
'Be married. Yes"
90" she said, II did not know but
you might wish TO be released"
mo" he returned, emphatically,
'you would be the one to wish that"
81 never have" she answered.
"Everv one knows that l have the
best OF the arrangement-that you are
smarter and better than am. ! have
meant, all these years, to get something
ahead, so that we could be married
some time, and so that you would not
have to do dressmaking. But haven't
managed right, or something, and now
my health giving out has spoiled all
81 would have been ready any time,
Ezra" she said, gently. I'VE would
have got along"
IL had got so used to being engaged
to you that had almost become salts
fled with there being nothing different
But now that l am going away, and
will not see you all winter lOng-l wish
we could be married before ! GO"
"But there is so little time" she
said, thinking of the pretty things she
had hoped to make if this time ever
came.
~ know" he answered, not under
standing her. II know you could not
leave to 90 with me, but we could go
to housekeeping when ! get back l
wish you would do it, he ended, visit
fully.
VIII. Slit NOuNtIiNAf II IL W III
make you happier"
On the appointed day Ezra set forth
on his way to Florida, leaving his
bride behind to face the New England
winter alone At first she was lone
some, but when long letters began to
come from Ezra she felt happier He
was a good letter writer, and before
winter was past it seemed to her that
she had had more companionship with
him than usual
Ezra liked Florida and the climate
agreed with him. He found work
there, and when spring came he decid-
ed to stay on. He proposed that Janet
should join him in the fall. She agreed
at the time, but when fall came she
began to be dreadfully homesick. She
finally wrote that, as Ezra would prob
ably come home by another spring, she
would wait for him.
But the next summer he spent in
Florida also, and when fall came again
and they had been married two years,
nothing was said about his returning
or her Joining him.
Janet, however, began to have de-
sire to see her husband. She deter
mined TO 90 to him and surprise him.
SO she packed her trunk and departed.
At the same time Ezra had longing
TO see Janet, and he decided to go
North and surprise her. They started
at about the same time, and passed
each other somewhere in Virginia.
When they reached their destinations
II is hardly necessary to say that they
were both surprised -unpleasantly SO
Falt fVnpnI1n1 IN Tatnrp rho
way they had Just come, but each re-
fected that the other might do the
same thing, so they waited and wrote
letters instead
Janet liked Florida so well tina she
decided to spend the winter there.
AS for Ezra, he declared that he
never would leave the North again if
he could possibly help it. 1t seemed
like home to him. He stood the win
ter well, and he looked forward to see
ing Janet in the spring. But Janet
thought she would try summering in
the South.
Ezra sighed 90, dear!" he said
"Have we got to see-saw back and
forth this way all our lives? BY the
time she gets sick of Florida | shall
have to 80 there again, probably"
IN April, however, a postal card cam,
which made glad his heart"
IF you will stay North till can get
there, | will start the minute l hear
from you. 1t is SO fearfully hot here
that / can't stand It any longer
Ezra met her in New York, and they
staid there a few weeks, seeing the
sights. This is our honeymoon" he
said. They were surprised to find how
glad they were to see each other. They
came home and went to housekeeping
and were happy.
One evening they were coming homo
from church. They had not said mu h
but finally Ezra asked: do you sup
pose we ever would have been married
IL 1t hadn't been for my going to Flor
ida?"
II don't know"
"Wen. | don't believe we would
Just think Of the time we have wasted
| have been an old fool for seventeen
years"
Janet laughed. Il think | belong (
that class, too" she said Boston Post
4 Tiny Tree.