Morris tribune., 1901-05-18
A ROMANCE OF
THE FOREST.
The Story OF q Long Woofns
With an Abrupt Ter
minations
BY G. H. AUGUR r.
100000 oo0o o00oo COoc
Dark the halls and cold the feast,

Dark the halls and cold the feast,
Gone the trademarks. gone the priest
The 8 O'Clock train on the Duluth
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
Sldnaw station is a good sized frame
building, with a hotel sign over the
door and tin beer sign on either side
Of it 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 a
| 20 co acres IL 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-fve saloons, a store and
q board 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 defantly in a pepper and salt
colored soil Of muck and sand.
The main feature Of Sidnaw IS ST.
lence-the awful silence Of the great
surrounding forest-but It is broken at
intervals by dogdght or an explo-
sion of oaths from the saloon district,
where red shirted, SLOUGH hated woods
men from the lumber camps play cards,
tust visible within the darkened door
ways.
A 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 few
moments and then goes into retirement
again.
You spend four hours in the cOntem-
plation of this scene; then that fool en-
CINE backs lot of the freight cars and
an old passenger coach down to the
station, and you get aboard and go to
Oneonagon, the terminus Of the road,
and it takes you two hours to go-just
half as long as it took to ''change cars"
had changed cars at Sidnaw once,
and l was on my way thither again, E.
depressed and low spirited at the pros
pect before me, when, all suddenly, /
was invited to attend wedding while
l waited, and once more the world look
ed rosy.
The prospective bride occupied the
seat behind me in the car. had not
noticed her particularly until she bent
forward. and, touching me on the arm,
she asked if l could inform her at |
what time our train was due in Sid
nav. Then turned and beheld lady
Of some 40 summers, wearing f1owery
6OWh Va "bALC huu SlCSu, Will UIdCh
lace mitts, and having beside her one
Of those big black 80 cent travelling
bags that circulate so freely In the
west.
The ready politeness with which ]
answered her question encouraged her
to ask more, and eventually found it
necessary to sit sidewise that might |
more conveniently keep up my end of |
the conversation, which shifted from
one topic to another with wonderful
rapidly and finally merged into a ro-
nance Of which she was the heroine
and to the completion Of which was
cordially asked to lend my presence.
tits IS years." she said, 'tsince this |
SIR. Prince left Kaukauny and came up
hero into the lumber camps Him and |
me was young folks then and KEEP |
company together spell, but when he
asked me to marry him / said, No, / |
wouldn't marry nobody Then he |
went away, and never heard Of him |
till three years ago he wrote and said
somebody'd told him was single and
he was waitin for me; wouldn't never
marry another woman, he said, noh0w,
and he hoped I'd take him into consid-
GRAFTON again.
'"That letter made me feel kind Of
queer to think he'd been 80 faithful
all these years. never believed he
set 50 much store by me as all that.
was good mind to write him favor
able letter right then and there, but
when 1t come right to the point /
couldn't make up my mind to do It 50
| Just wrote him wanted year moro
10 think about It.
WELL never heard a word from
him no more than's If he was dead till
the gear was up. Then ne WROTE again
and said he was stin wait1n.
z put MIN OF tilli earastugas~ Sfsr etllt