Smyrna times., 1901-06-05
A ROMANCE OF
THE FOREST.
The Story of n Long WOoinS
With an Abrupt Ter
minatiOn,
nv n IT AUGuR.
BY c. H. A U G. U R.
oGoO OC0O OOGO ONJo oCx
Dark the halls and cold the feast,
CONC the trademarks, gone the priest.

The s o'clock train on the DuluIn,
South Shore and Atlantic railroad
takes you away from the beautiful
town of Marquette, on Lake Superior,
climbs slowly up to the iron hills,
passes through Negaunee, Ishpeming,
Michigamme rival cities of the North
ern Peninsular," and, bowling along at
20 miles an hour, brings you at noon to
Sidnaw, whence a short branch road
extends to OntOnagon, and, If you have
TO change cars, may heaven help you |
in your sorry plight, for you must wait
hours in a dreary place.
Two hundred feet from the track at |
Sidnaw station is a good sized frame
building, with a hotel sign over the
door and a tin beer sign on either side
of 1t. You get your dinner here, and
after dinner you may sit on the hotel
veranda and view the entire town and
all of its inhabitants.
The town site comprises about half
40 GO acres it would be called in other
parts of the country tract of cleared
land. The hotel before alluded to is
set back against the woods on one side
of the tract, while the business portion
of the place-five saloons. store and
a beard walk-skirts the other edge.
The railroad track passes through the
center. There is no street. There are
everywhere blackened tree stumps and
scattered blades of brown dry grass
standing detiantly in pepper and salt
colored soil of muck and sand.
The main feature of Sidnaw Is 81
lence-the awful silence of the great
surrounding forest-but it is broken at
intervals by a dOgfight or an eXplo-
sion of oaths from the saloon district,
where red shirted, slOuch hated woods
men from the lumber camps play cards,
Just visible within the darkened door
ways.
line of freight cars stands on the
track by the station, and now and then
an engine that has been sizzling and
kissing all by itself among the trees
comes out and bumps these cars about
in an aimless sort of way for a few
moments and then goes into retirement
again.
You spend four hours in the contem-
plation of this scene; then that fool en-
gine backs a lot of the freight cars and
an old passenger coach down to the
station. and you get aboard and go to
Ontonagon, the terminus OF the road
and it takes you two hours to go-just
half as long as it took to change cars
l had changed cars at Sidnaw once
and | was on my way thither again
depressed and low spirited at the pros
pect before me, when, all suddenly,
was invited to attend a wedding while
waited. and once more the world look
ed rosy.
The prospective bride occupied the
seat behind me in the car. had no
noticed her particularly until she ben
forward, and, touching me on the arm
she asked if | could inform her a
what time our train was due in Sid
nav. Then | turned and beheld lad.
Of some 40 summers, wearing flower.
gown of white and green, with blacl
lace mitts, and having beside her on
Of those big black 90 cent travelling
bags that circulate so freely in tn
west.
The ready politeness with which
answered her question encouraged he
to ask more, and eventually | found
necessary to sit sidewise that | Nigh
more conveniently keep up my end O
the conversation. which shifted fror
one topic to another with wonderfU
rapidity and finally merged into a rC
nance of which she was the heroin
and to the completion of which | wa
cordially asked to lend my presence.
IT'S IS years." she said. "since thl
Mr.. Prince left Kaukauny and came Il
here into the lumber camps. Him an
me was young folks then and kel
company together a spell, but when /
asked me to marry him | said. NO.
wouldn't marry nobody Then /
went away, and never heard of hi
till three years ago he wrote and sal
somebody'd told him I was single an
he was waitin for me; wouldn't ney,
marry another woman, he said, noho1
and he hoped I'd take him into consi
Grafton again.
"That letter made me feel kind
queer-to think he'd been so faithf
all these years. | never believed
get so much store by me as all thai.
was a good mind to write him fave
able letter right then and there. b
when 1t come right to the point
couldn't make up my mind to do 1t,
just wrote him wanted year mo
to think about H.
well, | never heard n word frc
4 him no more than's If he was dead
the year was up. Then he wrote aga
q and said he was still waitin.
IL Il put him Off TIL Christmas. then
nj spring, and so It's been a-goln up
q two weeks ago. when 1t come over |
all to once that / wasn't treatin {
man right. He'd been dreadful 10
sufferin and patient and deserved
reward, and | set down and wr'
him I'd have him.
He wanted to come down to X