The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-23

from her comfortable New England home
out into this wild, unsettled country. The
day of her sudden departure from her
home dated back just fifteen years from
this Christmas day, and Betsy was par
ucularly solemn as she always was on
this anniversary of this event in her life
yet she never betrayed her emotions to a
single companion, for her secret had re-
manned all these years her own She was
only Betsy Craig to those of this little
settlement. So strange was the fate that
led this young woman, then but a mere
girl of nineteen, away from her birth
place and home, that not even to her
perents was her purpose revealed, and
from her home no word of communica-
ton had ever been received in all her
long absence.
Al II o'clock this morning service be-
gan. Parson Darby announced some
hymn and then proceeded with a prayer
OF such length that half his congrega-
ton was ready to thrash him when he
mad finished. Then another song fol-
lowed, and so on until the parson began
to preach. 1t was during the service
that the stage, coming down from Tabor
Gulch, reached the village, with a lone
passenger aboard. He went to the ugly
little old shack, which was kept by two
broken down miners as an inn. There
he learned that everybody except his
host was at the church few rods away
The gentleman was a novelist, and had
come long distance to gather material
for work on Western life which he
hoped soon to produce. Thinking per-
haps he might find something interest
Ing at the church, he started in that di-
rection. lie reached the premises, when
ne stopped short, struck by the sweet
tones of the singer inside. He listened
intently and tfen proceeded to the door.
Half opening it, he stood awhile longer
to feed upon this sweet music, which h.
was startled to hear amid such sur
roundings. There was something more
than the mere excellence of the singer
that attracted him. He determined to
go In and satisfy, or see if he could sat-
isfy, his amazed anxiety. The sight Of
the singer added to his confusion and
as she sang another stanza of an Old
Christmas anthem, which had in his
childhood days filled his heart many a
time with joy, he tried to catch the wom-
ans eye. This he could not do. She
saw no one, but was apparently lost to
her modest surroundings in the spirit
of the song ~ IN
The stranger left the church before
the service was over and went back to
the inn. He was assigned to dingy
little room in the rear of the structure,
and there began to ponder on what he
small house was thronged with loud
mouthed cowboys. who had returned
from the service. He heard them talk
ing. The sound of familiar name upon
their strange lips only increased his Pc
cnliar anxiety. Betsy Craig"-he could
not be mistaken. Soon he was uncon-
sciously in the midst of the convers;t-
ton, which ccntered entirely upon this
wonderful woman. Without disclosing his
thoughts, he determined he would find
out the truth Betsy Craig was the
name of his sweetheart, whose voice was
the marvel OF all Bagley, that romantic
old village in the northern extremity Of
Vermont. and the song She sung was
the ore Betsy used always to sing when
q girl He would see.
One of the cowboys directed him to
Betsy's home. He found her in the midst
of preparations for the ev1n1ng feast,
which all the cowboys In the valley were
to attend. She and AUNT E2obey'' were
busily engaged at their WORK and half
Vexed, when a strange man appeared at
their door. The strangers presence had
been a source of much anxiety among the
cowboys, and now it had aroused, for
a moment, the feelings of Betsy and Aunt
Libbey
Eyes, my name is Betsy Craig and L
came from Bagley, Vermont but you
are the first person to whom I've told
that since left that nome nIteen years
ago." This was Betsy's reply to the
strangers inquiry.
And who are your" she asked. II,
why, I am, don't you know me, am,
I'm Henry TempIeton, and 1, too, am
from Bagley.'' The strangers answer
and the couples subsequent actions were
solution enough of the problem, even
to the aged Aunt Libbey. TheNpair re-
tired to another room, arm in arm, their
faces cast down to hide their tears from
their lone attendant.
Sixteen years ago Henry Templeton,
young man of Bagley, Vermont, proposed
to his sweetheart, Betsy Craig. The
girls parents opposed the match. Betsy
was forced to adopt strategic means
of imparting her answer to Henry the
next night, as she had told him she
could give it then. If red rose appeared
ON the front porch Of the Craig home,
Betsy was to be the Wife of Henry Tenn
pleton; If no rose was there he had been
rejected. Henry went at the appointed
time; no rose, although he spent some
time in searching His fate was sealed
and he determined to leave Bagley. He
did so, and was not heard of again.
In despair Betsy, who had never learn
ed why her lover, when he found the red
rose in the proper place, did not come to
receive the legacy which the flower be-
queathed, also left her home, after wait
ing in vain for some word from Henry
for more than year.
The two had moi for the first time