El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-17

They sdW me ac1len it aCas just too late.
cottage. The way liz which
and watched for sugSest.H,: -@ -
amples of etiquette at taH.e 90 ...---
where, yet managed wniie v.;rsUi1j,
that arduous occupation to il-ca:-zys : r
own soft, bright. unconscious beaIicg,
was bit of social skill such aa q court
might not match in year.
1 am aware how improbable this
sounds to the unsentimental observer
of country girls. but there was much
that was childlike about Patsy. Among
other things, she was plastic, like a
child. Then. too, if she was from the
backwoods, she was also sou thern,
which in this connection means that
wide reaching, deep reaching puritan
ism had played small part in checking
her natural instincts of social grace
Our acquaintance were told nothing
about her, but they, particularly the
elders, let her pass with graciousness
born of experience of life in poor and
thinly populated and aristocratic coun-
try, where anybody may be akin, to
anybody and where kinship counts-s
state of society similar to that in Scot
land. especially the Scotland of the
past. L feared. though, that the cailow
schoolgirls even at Coffee's academy
would be less elastic.
gave little miss all the points on
grammar that it seemed she could Iii
gest. and she made wonderfully good
use of them. One day said. ''Do you
and Gilmore write to each other?'
She colored and bent over her sew
ing. The tears had sprung to her eyes.
but if l had not been a brute in the
way watched her l never should have
known it, she recovered herself sc gal
lantly. In an instant she answered
steadfastly:
@'Oh, mol He writes to me onct in
awhile. but in course he don't like 10
do all the writin. and You see my letters
would shame him, and l don't want to
make him consider how ignorant am
when I m not there" she added half
archly. wholly pathetically.
She realized any meanness in Ell
more's attitude only so dimly and con-
fusedly that che could not be mean
enough herself to give the charge a
hearing. He was full of a sort of deyo-
tion and subsection to her spell when
he was with her. and. of course. was
assertive of his faithfulness in proper
ton to his own distrust CT it. Of course.
too, he was also proportionately aDx-
iOus about hers.
"He keeps a-sayin to me to be true
to him. she said once. ''Id rather
he'd feel sure without askin.
She had plenty of dignity of char
acter; but how was that to teach her
to release lover like this? 1t simply
made her feel his neglects like wounds
without even the solace of indignation.
Patsy was far from loquacious, but
at times. when favoring conditions
started her chirping and twittering. she
brought forth discriminating remarks.
In talking of her brothers she said:
cab have the mos sense; but what's
that when Eb have all the determine
lion p
I wondered how it would be when
this coherent intelligence was brought
TO bear on Elmore's colossal indifference
On something like equal terms. Or could
there ever be an approach to equal
terms so long as he had those eyes and
that smile? They even warped my sat
sfaction in declaring him fool.
One day Patsy's father twirled his
,hapeless old white hat in his hands in
81 don't feel no ways at ease in my
nine about this schoolin business for
ny little gal. Patsy have the bes' head
n the house, the bes' head in the house
allus say; set powerful store by her;
he could "a had schoolin before eff l
led seen the good of it for her. Eff we
.ould all be schooled an live in Strath-
'oro, there might be profit in it. I'd
% through fire an water to make that
title gal happy. but kint feel at ease
n my mine about maxim her differ
rom all her kith an kin. I don't see
he mex step satisfactory. 1 dom see
he mex STEP
Sure enough, what would it be? In
september my mother and I again left
tennessee. We went abroad and We're
one three years 1t was as if we had
pent that time on another planet. Our
orelgn postoffices effectually estopped
our Tennessee friends any possible
impulses to write to u.s.
After we returned to America we got
n enumeration of events covering the
hree years. in four pages from my
ICuntinuou 10 pageI