The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-05-18
\ MsLAD PROPOSAL.
IT xiszc7r BLOWER.

0ossss Henry Hsrtwell misistd his r6upesal of marriage every time he nGnod upsn lfiss Helen Martingale. He o14oyu prepared 1t in advance. but he oeNer could lind 1t when he wanted it. At 01nt 1t was his custom to mislay it oomeWf1pre in the recesses of his mind. ous tAe last time he lost It in ansther
 Hartwell iabored under the disad- varBage 6f being . difiidcnt man. He was far from being . coward, but he simply ceuld net say T love you" to the nlost charming girl of his .acquaint- ance Some men are built that way. nnl fhey alsne know what . frightful drowhack 1t is. There was every indi- oation that Miss Martindale had a high rogakd fer < him. not to put 1t any n<rouoor, .andsne one but a difndent man wom11~ ~hoRe cQDextenced any trouble in " 1ng tAe r6Qais1te question. Even WartWeil knew. how 1t should be done.
 n had put 1t all. down en paper and 4Shearsed it before a mirror; he had it, - he told himself, right on the tip of o1s tengue;, but this carefully prepared p1epeoa1 wae not there. when the time napse pte use it Tn some way he seem- - to have miaIaid it. Everything fla Norod him except his own heart. which theuehkiessly abstracted the declara- &ton Of love and put 10 somewhere out cf his reach. Then. to make his pre- dicament the more distressing, the aforesaid heart began doing a trip hammer exercise that he thought sure 1y would alarm the house. Still he per neyered. and. after, making elaborate Dreparatisns to drop on one or both &nsos when the proper moment. ar E5ved. he said in an earnest. but trem- m3Dua. veice "E6tes Martingale-- x 8elen-May call you Hslsn?"
 | "yPhy, certainly, If you wiah," she nnnwerea with charming frankness.
 Thank you" he said. gratefully. and xhen he reached fer that proposal only 6o Gsua that it was sene. He found the Drefncs to 1t ready fer use, but that ! &c aek of you. Hnlsn." he said: some fhlng that is ciossr to my heart thar 0nvthing else in the wide world. I--
 Here he stopped, staMmeYed little. [ and then said he would like te bring m old college friend to call. Of course. at was manAEeskly absurd te'say that fhis was something closer to his heart than anything else in the wide world. and. if Miss Martindale had not peen very much: in love with him, she would s have considered him huge joke. He tried 50 hard to. propose, and he failed every time, even though she endenv- cred to assist him indirectly. Once S he said bluntly. Helen, I want you,' aud everything would have been lovely if that Troublesome heart of his hadn't impeIled him to add, ''to give me the xifst dance at the Parkinsons's ball next week"
 Alter a,fewl sueh futile attempts he alunest made up his mind to propose by q3aii. 4yt there was ,one serious oh- Section to that plan. He well knew that there are certain little perquis- 1tes that go with the acceptance of a proposal of marriage thak, once missed. 2 cannot be successful collected after ward. There is nothing like taking the whispered "Yes'' direct from the lips \ that are ready to surrender it. Ther one day. while he was passing a pho- { nograph shop. an inspiration came tc him. Why not propose by photograph He could recite his plea with masterly ~ effect in the seclusion of his own room deliver the cylinder in person, and thus be on hand to receive the answer and all the favors that should rightfully nccompany it. Five minutes later he was the owner of two phonegraphs and had mastered all that was necessary oi the details of recording diaphTagme and reproducing diaphraSms. One oi the phonographs he dispatched at once to Miss Martindala. .ngethAr zy.4l. 2 . note saying that he would call the fol. Lowing evening with some prepared cylinders or reproducing diaphragms,' II k as the clerk had called them, which hs
 wished her to try.
 Sunday, "A SUMMER IDYL," by S