Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-11-07

IN four households of the town OF
i Atwater there was pleased dismay.
Four young women were trembling
from the shock of an unexpected dec
laration of love. Four were reading
and ~re-reading a prose poem stepped
in passion. 1t was the same poem in
each case, written on the same kind
of unusual crepe paper, penned with
the same exceeding care and signed
"Okecho Tamura."
For that very morning Okecho Ia
nura, prince of royal blood, a sent
four love letters. Rather he had sent
pleted the last one shortly before
midnight and mailed all four at a COZ
ner box, from which they were taken
in the gray of morning and before
ter o'clock four young women knew
what it was to be loved by a japanese
nobleman.
1t will be inadvisable to attempt
any description of the emotions
aroused within the young women by
these separate discoveries. Suffice to
say that e1ch was thrown into a fut-
ter of amazement. The prince had
given no previous intimation of the
crisis. In the presence of these four
american girls he had been calmly re-
served, but with non of the embar-
rassment of the doubling and distract
ed lover. In fact, he had seemed too
formal in his courtesies to justify the
suspicion that he vas being tormented
by any inward passion. The prince
showed as much of a superior bearing
as a five-foot man can well assume.
Okecho Tamura, of Japan, was a
sophomore at Atwater college. He
was of a clear tan color with a bristle
of black hair and a small mustache.
He wore clothes of careful cut and
had a preference for new gloves and
patent leather shoes. He spoke Eng
1ish hesitatingly, but the shortcom-
ings of his speech were more than
compensated by the engaging quality
of his smile. In his studiOus effort to
be correct and observe American GUS
toms. he was punctilious in his courtesy
and was given to a ceremonial polite
ness which rather pleased his new
friends at Atwater, as they were not
accustomed to it.
Atwater college IS one of the small
er inland homes of learning. There
fore, it was flattered to receive u stu
dent from Japan. When it came out,
not from any open boast by Okecho
Tamura, but as a result of investiga-
lions by the secret societies, hat the
little Jap was rightfully entitled to
the prefix of prince" and that his an
cestors had been warrior chiefs, there
was a season of determined rush
ing" with the bewildered Okecho Ia
mura carried along in the thick OF
the excitement. No less than four of
the Greek letter societies offered him
the sacred privileges of their mystic
brotherhood. He made a choice and
was thrown up in a blanket and
otherwise maltreated while being well
coined into the order. If there had
been any doubt as to his social status
it was removed when he came to
chapel wearing the jeweled badge of
the most pretentious and exclusive of
the efrats." Atwater w a co-educa-
tional and therefore each fraternity
had it's partisans and sympathizers
among the college girls. In the broth
erhood which received Okecho Tamu-
IA ond invested him with honor. it
was a sworn duty to maintain that
Lucy Dyer, Anna Blackman, Flora
Caldwell and Renette Williams we're
the most beautiful, captivating and
altogether valuable members of their
sex, for these same young women
were the head and center of the "kap-
pa crowd" as this particular faction
was commonly designated. These four
girls wore the Kappa badges and went
to hops with the Kappa boys n APP
plauded the Kappa orators Mt the an
nual contest and in other ways made
evident their loyalty to Kappa inter-
ests. AS soon as the authenticated
prince from Japan 5 his collegiate
fortunes with the Kappa chapter, the
four partisans put on Haunting rib
bons and celebrated the catch in the
most open and jubilant manner, while
the defeated Greeks went about in bit
terness OF spirit and protested indif-
ference. A week later the four divin-
tiles If Kappa pooled their frosted