The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-29
THE ADVERTISERS DAILY SHORT STORY

farmer, graduated from Ann Arbor ne was. for q time. to quote his own n,,sns e,e- 10 do. His father desired him to enter the law, his mother favored medicine. his sister architecture Lionel himself favored nothing in particular. e unless saS ', not fitted him especially for any or these except baseball. He was capable or pitching at a four thousand dollar clip. But he was not in need of more money wealthy and indulgent father, and base ball did not meet the entire appreciation of his family. Finally he compromised on literature. And of his first and only Martyr" this little story has to do.
 There was a girl at the bottom of the compromise, of course. She 1t was who named the book. Lionel considered her women, which she was undoubtedly, ana her suggestions carried much weight with him. She was of literary pent, and was determined never to marry. She swarix. She had made Lionel the hero of thriffing tale which every editor or prominence in the English-speaking uni verse had at one time or another re- turned with gratitude.
 They discussed literary subjects largely on those occasions when they were to- gether The girl was an enthusiast. Lionel caught 1t, and presently ne was E. chasing adjectives and other big game by uay, jotting impressions in note- book for the girl to criticize-which she dld unsparingly.. .praising without stint the work with which she favored him for inspection. He completed a sketch at last--a weak little thing that was brought home to him by a big and strong but withal kind-hearted rejection slip. He completed another, and 1t was bought by an Eastern magazine. This. so he and the girl decided, settled it; he must write book.
 Don't you think" she said to him been finished and he was undergoing the delightful cooling-of process which all literary workers undergo in order to save themselves from spiritual incinera- ton, that you are pushing the story bit too rapidly? The hero has hardly been introduced to the heroine, yet he. is making love to her like an old friend. He has proposed to her. and her long flashes are sweeping her cheeks. plain evidence that she is to accept him In the second chapter How, pray. do you expect to make book of the storys
 We'll replied Lionel, laughing some, what awkwardiy, "I don't know; had thought that something might turn up to tear them asunder. and that the hero might do a number of readable things to effect reunion. He Is a determined fellow, and he loves the heroine dis- tractedly you know" m
 Yes" said the girl, thoughtfully, "the heroine might change her mind, and de- eide to marry the villain. By the way, when do you propose to introduce the villain? What sort of a man Is he to be? Is he capable of winning the hero inc away from the hero just for mean. ness? Or is there a secret connected with the heroine's birth?'' M
 ''The villain" asserted Lionel, "4 to be a poor weakling whom the hero can lick with one hand. l have always con sidered these villains who make thirty 1Aa nf abomination, and I propose to institute a new order. The villain will not marry the heroine. He will make no effort to win her from the hero. because the hero dodblast him!-is introduced. And as for a secret connected with the heroine's birth, hope you do not believe me ca- pablo of anything quite so hackneyed, voting the second chapter to the we'd will describe the wedding itself. And the fourth chapter will concern the birth of a-new idea in storytelling. The vil- lain will be introduced therein as a comber of lawns and horses, also vil- lainess will appear in the form of sev- eral hired girls. And from this point to the piece of raw verse at the end of the chapter there will be something doing. The happiness of the heroine will be threatened every hour or two. and the hero will simply do stunts. By George'
 will it?S asked the girl dubiously.
 Certainly. Let me give you an out line of the fifth chapter. The heroine has in process a little dinner party to her girlhood friends. She Is particu- larly anxious that everything shall so off well, because ones girlhood friends are inclined to be hypercritical. More over, they are subject to I-told-you-so spasms, especially in such instances as this, where the heroine chances to be young woman whose ambitions have been above and beyond domesticity. The day arrives The hours creep on apace At any moment the guests may come. The skies above her are blue. The air about her is sweet with the incense Of joy. And then-bifr! A thunder-clap! grievance: she Is to depart at once; no lady could stand what she has stood She departs. Woe! Despair! Horror! There is a situation for you beside which the curdingest situation of the histori- cal dreadfuls shows pale and lustreless.
 Tt Is indeed, agreed the girl, WaYer- ing between gravity and mirth. What follows?"
 "The guests arrive. and are greeted with a smile of real pain. The heroine excuses herself from their presence as soon as the requirements Of the scan tiest courtesy permit, and they toss and catch significant glances at one another: They sniff the unmistakable odor or burned fowl. They almost laugh In the kitchen the heroine, panic-stricken, IS making an effort to save the dinner. She is only making matters worse. for the best cook on earth could do nothing in such a state of mind. Twice she has fingered the handle of the carving-kpife, vaguely, indefinitely resolved to plunge it into her own wildly throbbing breast. The door opens. Enter the hero dragging the hired girl whom he has met at the railway station. He assumes an attitude, pointing at the range. The hired girl obeys meekly. The heroine falls sobbing upon his breast
 Too improbable , commented the girl. breathing again.
 Tt Is not so convincing, perhaps, ad- mitted Lionel, as the story of the hero who stays nineteen men single-handed to save the woman he loves, and then after he has been for something over a week without sleep; but 1t is perfectly reasonable when the facts are revealed. He simply offered the girl so much mon ey that she forgot her grievance for three hours. It was sacrlhce on his part; but what is a hero for If he IS not to make sacrificese All heroes do it. It Is part of the business"
 Suppose, the hired girl would not have accepted the money?
 You must not suppose when you are reading novels; 1t destroys the flavor. Suppose the hero of the nineteen men
 Saturdays story. HE WHO LISTENED, V