The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1900-03-16
over his glasses as If at some person
and said.

over his glasses as If at some person
and said:
II snumw
He sank Into reverle, out of which
he reused himself with start to study
the envelope with renewed interest.
"Mrs. Luther Wilkins" he said, Mrs.
Luther wilkins. And l an old bach
elor who never so much as hardly
thought of getting married! Mrs. Lu-
ther wilkins, why, where is she? And
who is she?"
"Well, | guess I'll see what's In It,"
He inserted the point Of his knife under
the corner Of the envelope flap, then he
hesltated.
what business have l opening Of
her letters" he asked himself. II never
did open other folks letters, and
guess l won't begin now" He rose to
his feet and carrying 1t to the mantel-
piece leaned it up against the clock.
He settled himself to his papers, but
thoughts of Mrs. Luther Wilkins kept
intruding on what he was reading
about patent nest-boxes, and, under
draining and the news of the village.
Thereafter during all his waking
hours, Mrs. Luther wilkins was often
in his thoughts. She even haunted his
dreams at times. He wondered what
she was like, and he thought of the
kind of woman he would wish her to
be, and enjoyed himself very much in
imagining how 1t would seem to have
her meet him at the door when he came
In from the fields, and how nice 1t
would be not to have to get his own
meals.
At first he was little cynical and
told himself that the imagining was
much more satisfactory than the real
ity would be, but after awhile he
changed his mind, and would sigh
heavily when he came into his lone
some house.
The letter by the clock, too, began to
trouble him. He had devouring curl
osity to see what was in 1t, and be-
sides It did not seem just right to keep
III So lOuk pClOlO ACAiN CIlAk Its
One evening in June Luther put on
his best clothes and walked three miles
to see an old sch0olmate who had an
unmarried cousin living with him. 1t
seemed to him that Eliza Elliott fitted
In exactly with his idea of Mrs. Luther
wilkins.
He came home quite early very much
disappointed Eliza wouldn't do at all.
He worked doggedly for month.
trying hard not to think of the dis
quleting subject. 1t was no use, and
toward the end Of July 1t was observed
that Luther was becoming very neigh
borly, He spent his evenings at differ
ent nelghbors' houses. he accepted in
tatlons to tea, he went to church regu-
larry and to all Sunday school picnlcs.
And still he could not find a suitable
owner for the letter.
81 must me terribly fussy." he sighed.
'I've got acquainted with about all the
women in town; they're nice women.
every one Of them, but somehow they
don't suit me. guess I'll have to give
up beat"
1t was one cold, raw day In early No
vember that Luther sat at window
making clumsy attempts at mending a
pair of very ragged socks. Happening
to glance across the road he saw
woman out in Hammond's yard. She
was busy raking up the fallen autumn
leaves.
'Letitia Hammond" Luther COM
mented. "Bill Hammond's sister. We
don't see much Of her lately. She don't
even go to church, there's so many of
Bilrs children to look after. and Bins
wife is so took up with her clubs and
things. It's hard on Letltla, but she
never finds word Of fault"
The sock he was mending fell to the
hoor. and the wooden egg inside 1t
struck with such loud bang that the
cat started in bis sleep. Lunar did not