The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1901-06-27
miss MEHITABEL sCRoGGs hat

miss MEHITABEL SCROGGS had
lvl reached the age of 80 without
ever having been able to truthfully
claim sweetheart. She was not ugly,
nor was she ill-tempered. She tried
to make herself agreeable to men,
and would, no doubt, have made a
good wife, but the men somehow
passed her by.
Perhaps her Indifference to her own
good qualities and her attempts to
shine in fields where she was weak
gave them an erroneous idea of her
true worth. Perhaps an appearance
of insincerity and too evident desire
for attention may have had something
to do with her exclusiveness. But
whatever the cause, she saw her girl
friends, one after the other, wooed,
won and welded, until she alone of
all her old associates remained a. spin
ster.
While she was anxious to marry, she
was yet more anxious to have the peo-
pie in her world believe that her single
state was due to her own wishes and
not to lack of opportunities.
She was seamstress in the village
of Towers, and in her visits from house
to house among her patrons she threw
out hints of mysterious affairs of the
heart which made the thoughts of mat
rimony unpleasant to her.
She had gone to sew for a week at the
house of Mrs. Logan, in the neighbor-
ing village of Parsons. She was but
slightly acquainted with Mrs. Logan
and her daughter Julia, and she rather
enjoyed the prospect of giving them the
impression in regard to herself thai
she usually tried to create.
In the village of Towers and we'll
known to Miss Scroggs lived Philip
Strong, young man of high character
and sterling worth. He had enlisted in
the Spanish war and was at that time
with his regiment in Cuba. He was
engaged to be married to Julia Logan,
but the engagement was a secret be-
tween them. Indeed, the people of his
own village knew nothing of their ac-
quaintance. His strongest rival, Mr..
Green, of Parsons, unaware of the en-
gagement, continued to pay his ad-
dresses to Julia, though without en-
couragement, and therefore when
Miss Scroggs found herself engaged
in preparing certain wedding. gar
Ihents for Miss Logan she believed
that Mr.. Green was to be the happy
man.
Skaters army was before Santiago.
The surrender of that city was daily
expected, when one day the papers
contained this item of news:
"Lieut. Philip Strong, Of the Ninety
eighth Wisconsin,, was killed this
morning from an ambush which he
had been sent to reconnoiter. The de-
ceased was a resident of Tower, Wis.,"
Miss Scroggs was the first of Mrs.
Logan's household to read the paper.
She was shocked by the news, for she
knew Strong we'll. Her sorrow, how
ever, did not prevent her from re-
solve to turn his death to account after
her own peculiar method.
She waited till she heard Mrs. Logan
enter. Then she screamed and threw
herself on the floor and pretended to
faint. This brought other members of
the family to the scene, and in the
work of restoring her to consciousness
the newspaper was not noticed.
Brought to her senses, she called at
tention to the paragraph and ex-
planned that her heart was broken by
the horrible death of Lieut.. Strong.
her betrothed.
Julia read the paragraph, but did not
faint. She retired to her own room to
nurse her grief. There her mother
found her and told her Of the cause OF
Miss Scroggs' sorrow. Julia was sur.
prised and indignant.
"It cannot be possible" !" she declared
and she proceeded TO interview Miss
6croggs. ff
That lady was making the most OF
the situation and lay on her bed weep.
ing when Julia entered to console her
a. Miss ScrOggs supposed.
Jealous as she was, distracted by the
death of her lover, aud torn by the sus.
picion that he was false her, julia
could not but feel pity for the grief OF
the woman who lay sObOing before
her. az 81
.My dear Miss scroggs," she said
sympathetically, ~ am 80 sorry for
you," and she put her arms around
her.
Miss Scroggs laid her head ON Julia's
bosom and sobbed.
@Oh. thank you, thank you. and ma,
you never be called upon TO suffer a.
do. If could only die. Ny poor Philip