Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1899-11-18
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BY w. r. ROSE.

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She was Il pretty girl. Her complexion
was red and white, her hair heavy and
black and wavy, her figure neat and trim.
Unfortunately she tried to improve her
complexion with a strong suspicion of
rouge. backed by powder galore, and she
frizzed her wavy hair. Her figure she
couldn't very well distort, although she
had tried various times to cinch into
smaller compass her rather generous
waist. Her wardrobe wasn't much to
boast Of, but there We're many rutfles to
1t and Il generally fused up suggestion.
Still take her all in all, she was very
prcSentablc girl i'll her holiday attire-if
you could forgive her the dab of rouge
and the powder streaks on her dimpled
checks.
Mary Burns was girl with literary
tastes. At least that was an impression
regarding herself which she took good
care to encourage. She believed that she
was Il genius on the way-and very near
the arriving point. She was n writer,
both of prose and verse, and her writings
were very pleasing and encouraging to
Mary Burns. True, she had but little
education, painful fact that never wor-
ried her i'll the least. She knew that
genius was heaven sent and heaven new
er required any grammar school diploma
as n guarantee of good faith.
Mary Burns didn't know that she was
hugging a monstrous delusion.
1t was very largely the fault of the
boys at The Megaphone office. 1t was
principally the fault of Managing Editor
Joe Waldeck.
'Why, fellows" he said one night when
they rallied him on his bcrouged and be-
rutficd prOtcgee, "She is one of the most
entertaining character sketches ever ran
across. Chock full of self sufficiency, a
word of praise raises her to the seventh
heaven, and a word of cenSure drops her
down to the antipodean degree. She
brings i'll that drivel of hers, and | pre-
tend to look it over and skim it through,
and l raise or lower my eyebrows here
and there, and sometimes | nod with SUI
preme satisfaction. And then l tell her
that sort Of stuff is really too good for
plain ordinary newspaper work, and she
must save it for book form. And the
jolly goes, and so does she presently, and
my adroit praise of her hating rhymes
is as good as if she saw the doggerel in
double column old English, with an Orna-
mental frame, on our first page. | tell
you she's got an unlimited stop over
in fairyland as long as the jolly lasts.
And it will last all right unless you fell
lows wreck it."
But they didn't wreck it. On the con
trary, they helped it along. Bixby, the
sporting editor, knew that Mary Burns
was just behind him when he said To
Carlton, They tell me that Waldeck has
discovered diamond in the rough in that
bright little girl with black hair and rosy
cheeks who comes up here occasionally"
YES" said Carlton, catching the cue,
they say her poetry is something quite
inspired. Waldcck tells me she's too good
for newspaper work" And then they
passed along the hall, leaving Mary, who
was close behind them, in n warm glow
of gratiicd delight.
And BriggSy, who had quite a gift in
rhyming, got Waldcck to let him have
one of her alleged poems and cut it down
from As lines to 8 and by changing n
word here and there and smoothing the
meter managed to make quite a fair little
effort of it. Waldeck agreed to use it the
following Sunday, and then he told Mary
that her name wasn't long enough for n
substantial literary signature.
I'VE must lengthen it out" he said.
"What do you think of Cecilia, Mary
Cecilia Burns? That's not bad"
The delighted Mary agreed that it
wasn't. and so on the following Sunday
the little verse appeared with Mary Co-
ella Burns" beneath it, and Mary-well,
Mary was on the roof of the seventh
heaven this time.
With the advent of these lines, and
Mary never appeared to recognize the fact
that anybody had touched them up, her
self assurance increased tenfold. She
felt that sla was fairly launched on Il
literary carer. She devoted more time
to her writing: she even started a five act
play. Once a week she climbed the long
stairs LEADING to the managing editor
room and listened to his fatterng criti-
cisms and his kindly advice, and saw the
boys of the newsroom nudge one an
other in adm ring awe when she CHANGED
to meet them in the grimy hallway.
As was natural. Mary Burns had n
lover She Ia many admirers, but there
was one in particular, favored by Mary's
parents, who had konwn Tommys par
ents in the old country, and favored a
little by Ma Y herself. Tommy Purcell
was fine lad. as Marys father fire.
qucntly reminded her. He was "a, sound
End strong, assistant foreman in n pat
tern shop and earning good wages.
Whenever Tommy called, Mary's paren, )
would discreetly efface themselves, but it
was some time before Tommy-not an
OVERLOAD yoUth and far from sure of his
gronnd-muStered up courage to speak.
One evening they were slowly walking
on the shady side of the street, Tommy
making desultory remarks and Mary
thinking over a difficult rhyme that had
bothered he all the afternoon, when the
fine lad spoke.
MARY" he said with little hitch in
his voice. we've known each other a
long time"
eyes. Tommy"
"Ies. Mary. dear. An-an KNOWN you
has becn-haS been very great pleasure
TO me. AT least | thought it was a pleas
ure, but | know now it is love-"
"Why, Tommy"
'I've said it, Mary. Will you-will you
be my wife,"
Mary felt sorry for Tommy, and Mt the
same moment she felt n little pity for