The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-05-21
A ROMANCE OF
THE FOREST.
The Story of Long Wooing
With an Abrupt Ter
mination.
1880 OOooCCooOOooCOoe
B Y G. H. A U G U R.
Dark the halls and cold the feast,
Gone the trademarks. gone the priest

Two hundred feet from the track 81
Sidnaw station is a good sized frame
building, with 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 hote
veranda and view. the entire town and
all of it's inhabitants.
The town site comprises about half 9
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
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 defiantly in a 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 al
intervals by dogfght or an explo-
sion of oaths from the saloon district
where red shirted, SLOUGH hated woods
men from the lumber camps play cards
just 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 a 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
Ontonagon, the terminus of the road
and 1t takes you two hours to go-just
half as long as it took to Change cars
| 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 wedding while
| 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 | could inform her at
what time our train was due in Sid
nav. Then turned and beheld lady
of some 40 summers, wearing a fiowery
gown of white and green, with black
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
rapidity 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 10 years." she said, "since this
Mr. Prince left Kaukauny and came up
here into the lumber camps. Him and
me was young folks then and KEEP
company together a 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, nohow,
and he hoped I'd take him into consid-
GRAFTON again.
'aThat letter made me feel kind of
queer-to think he'd been so faithful
all these years. never believed he
set so much store by me as all that.
was a good mind to write him favor
able letter right then and there, but
when it come right to the point
couldn't make up my mind to do it, SO
l Just wrote him wanted year more
to think about 1t.
.'Well, / never heard a word from
him no more than's If he was dead till
the year was up. Then he wrote again
and said he was still waitin.
81 put him off till Christmas. then till
spring. and so It's been a-goin up to
two weeks ago. when it come over me
all to once that | wasn't treatin the
man right. He'd been dreadful long
sufferin and patient and deserved his
reward, and l set down and wrote
him I'd have him.
"He wanted to come down to Kau-
kauny after me, but wouldn't have It.
l told him to save his money, and I'd
come up. So we fixed it that way, ana
today the weddin comes off, and l
want you to be there. Mr.. Princes
got a minister from Ontonagon, and
he's invited few of his friends to wit
ness the ceremony, and l guess it'll be
a pleasant. sociable little gatherin.
Anyhow, it'll be better than waitin for
the train, with nothin to do"
l agreed with the lady and eagerly
accepted her invitation. | had curl
osity to behold this faithful old lover
who had waited Is years, waited with
Infinite patience until the girl he loved
had lost all of the attractions of youth,
and yet loved on and now was about to
see his fond dreams realized. The
story seemed rather pathetic to me, al
though its ludicrous side was very ap'
parent also.
OF the half dozen passengers In tine
car. we were the only persons to aligh'
when the train reached Sidnaw.
helped my companion with her big
yalise, and she, carrying large straw
board box and parcel tied in a news
paper followed me out of the car.
Two or three woodsmen, standing
about the station. gazed idly at us al
we stood undetermined which way tt
90. And one lean. sandy whiskeret
man. who had been sitting on the plat
form at the farther end, jabbing hi'
knife into the boards, slowly arose ant
advanced.
She was eying him.
ais this Miss Birtchet?' he asked
with a sheepish smile.
THAT'S my name" she answered
"Artemisia Birtchet, and ] must say
Abe Prince, that you seem dreadful
glad to see me-"
He held ont bis hand, but she conis