The Somerset reporter., 1901-05-02
A ROMANCE OF
THE FOREST.
The Story OF n Long Wooing
With an Abrupt Ter
minRtion.
B Y C. H. A u G. u R.
500 5000 oOOo oCOo o GOO oS0o
Dark the halls and cold the feast,
Gone the trademarks, gone the priest.


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 good sized frame
building, with n 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 q
10 co acres 1t 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-tiye saloons a store and
a 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 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 1t is broken at
intervals by a 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 1t took to change cars"
l had changed cars at Sidnaw once,
and l 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 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 fowery
gown of white and green, with black
lace mitts, and having beside her one
Of those big black 90 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 l 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.
"It's 1S 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.
THAT letter made me feel kind of
queer-to think he'd been so faithful
set so much store by me as all that.
was a good mind to write him a favor
able letter right then and there, but
when II come right to the point
couldn't make up my mind to do it. so
Just wrote him wanted a 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 waltln.
81 put him of till Christmas, then till
spring. and so it's been a-goin up to
two weeks ago, when 1t 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 | set down and wrote
him I'd have him.
"He wanted to come down to Kau-
kauny after me, but l wouldn't have It,.
/ told him to save his money, and I'd
come up. SO we fixed it that way, and
today the weddin comes off, and |
want you to be there. Mr.. Princes
got 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"
/ agreed with the lady and eagerly
accepted her invitation. | had a curl
osity to behold this faithful old lover
who had waited 1S wears waited with