Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-02-22
FAILS TO KEEP THE SECRET.
Therefore the Confding Friend Loses
Her Position.

Her Position.
1t is wise plan to keep you owl
counsel.
Only for woman's inability To keer
a secret Mrs. Mabel Passing still wCull
be teacher in public school No % in
Jersey City. Until yesterday Mrs
Passing was known as Miss Mabel Bills
For two years however. she has been
Mrs. Passing and when it became
known yesterday that she was a mar
ried woman, rather than suffer the
penalty Of marriage dismissal she re-
signed.
The story is just an echo CT the
Spanish war, a tale Of q woman's love
for militiaman who saw his duty.
a uniting of two hearts in the face of
danger when the parting word might
be the last.
When the call for volunteers for war
came Miss Bills and Corporal Passing
of the Fourth New Jersey regiment
were friends. There was something
more than friendship between them.
and had been, but neither recognized
1t until it came time to say good-by.
When the Fourth marched down
Montgomery street, Jersey City, a
thousand strong, for the train waiting
to take them to the camp at Sea Grit
they knew they loved There were tc
be a few days at Sea Grit, and as the
band played 'The Girl Left Behind"
he asked her is he came back would
she marry him. He got his answer
few days later, when, after being mus
tered into the service of Uncle Sam,
he came home on a furlough.
The pair went before Rev. E. B. Cobb
of the Second Presbyterian church. He
married them and agreed to keep it
secret. The next day Corporal Passing
was back in camp and Mrs. Passing was
in school. The rule in Jersey City
schools that married woman shall
not be teacher could not be broken.
To all she was still Mabel Bills.
line of the newspapers that the Fourth
surely would get to see service there
was one among them who turned pale
and made her prayer that it would not
be.
Then the days and months dragged
on; there were the stories of the
feyers in the camps and the sufferings
of the men for want of some of the
delicacies not included in the army bill
| of fare. There was one, however, a
corporal of the Fourth who didn't
| suffer. A school teacher visited camp
and brought to him the things he
needed. She once was heard to say
| that if the Fourth went away she
thought she would go with the Red
Cross.
When it was over the boys came
home a little Drowned and the band
played Johnny Comes Marching
Home" the mayor made a speech, the
crows turned out to see the Fourth
swing up the street in heavy marching
.,
friends of Miss Bills noticed she was
lighter in spirits.
| She was so happy that someone
must share her happiness-someon
whom previously she had not asked to
| divide her sorrow-so she told her
friend, a school teacher.
1t is a year since the Fourth came
home, and the friend thought it was
time the corporal should support his
wife. His family are fairly well to do,
and since the war he, young fellow
% years old, has been looking for work
to suit him. Some say soldering"
spoiled him and took from him the de-
sire to work For part of the time he
| hoped for an appointment to the reg
ular army
While the pair met frequently, no
one was the wiser; both knew their
secret, but the woman who had crossed
| her heart and swOre never to tell a
soul about Mabel's marriage must have
told for it leaked out. There was an
interview between the school prime pal
and Mrs. Passing. They talked about
rules, and the school was divided. The
| teachers said love and war knew no
rules. Mrs Passing says she is glad it
is all over and the whole world knows.
The corporal has gotten over soldier
ing, and the prospects are for another
| happy home in Jersey.