Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1903-07-30
HOW MET AMY.

THE train had stopped at Kansas
l City for breakfast, and my
hitherto uneventful and tiresome
journey was cheered by the sight of
a pretty face.
There had been many faces on the
way, and they had belonged to the
fair sex, but they were not fair. One
had belonged to a great g%renadier of
a female, in a sort of woman's bust
ness suit, who had bullied her hus-
band, a puny, would-that-I-were-dead
little man, all the way from st. Louis;
and another was a middle-aged spin
ster whose features possessed an un-
usual amount of acidity. They had
been more of a damper than an in
%spiration on the journey, and the
sigh of relief that 1 heaved as they
reached their respective destinations
was chorused by my fellow-travelers.
Therefore it can be imagined what
feelings came over me, when return
ing from my railroad-station break
fast and settling myself once more in
my linen-draped revolving chair, I saw
come aboard a slender figure in black
cloth and fur, with great childlike
blue eyes and an abundance of fluffy
golden hair. | am a susceptible man
at all times, but if there is one thing
in the female line that makes my
heart go faster, it is the combination
of baby-blue eyes, fluffy hair, and
fur.
She came aboard just as I returned,
and about three minutes before the
train was to start. 1t may seem
strange that my susceptible heart set
up such a beating when the fact is
made known that my golden haired
beautywas not alone. Her companion.
a creature of the opposite sex, was
not a person whose looks I fancied.
His moustache was too blonde and
too sweeping, his hat too glossy, and
his scarfpin too dazzling. Altogether
there was q look about him as of
q man whose worldly goods did not
come to him through weary toll and
plodding, but through more vagrant
and less laborious methods.
1 found myself devoutly hoping he
was not her husband, for the innocent
face and perfect apparel of the little
blonde showed all refinement. She
was just the kind of a trusting, un-
suspecting little to be taken
in by a deceiver and made to believe
that his money and his jewels came
from legitimate sources.
He settled her comfortably in her
chair, which, as rare luck would have
it, was next to mine, and was about
to remove his lustrous hat and make
himself at home, when he started up
suddenly and asked: did you get
your trunk checked"
"Why, no." answered the pretty
little blonde, turning upon him a
startled, childlike face, 81 didn't,
Charlie!"
"What! And almost time to start!
Here, give me your ticket, quick, and
I'll see\to it at once!"
She began fumbling in the little
steel bag she wore at her side with
excited, trembling fingers, while I
chafed at the delay. Presently she
found the ticket and handed it to
him.
Don't be long, Charlie!" she called
plaintively, as he rushed off with the
ticket, "for you know how dreadfully
timid I ami"
Poor little thing! She touched my
heart with her little chirping voice,
and I would willingly have taken
Charles place.
She leaned forward in her chair
and began peering out of the window.
As the passengers returned one by
one from their morning repast, she
turned quickly, half rising each time,
hoping that each was "Charlie."
But he did not come; and each sec
ond, I knew, seemed an hour. Then
a dreadful thing happened. The con-
ductor shouted "All aboard" and his
words were followed by the prelimi-
nary jerking of the cars. Another
second and we were gliding over the
rails! l glanced at the poor little
blonde. A terrified expression was on
her lovely face, then putting her head
back upon the chair, she pressed her
handkerchief to her eyes and began
to cry.
Such pity rose up in my heart as l
had never felt before in my life. This
poor child, SO pretty, SO timid, alone
and helpless at the very outset of her
journey! 1t was really awful, and /
was for offering her my services at
once. But, no! that would never do.
About the best thing a man can do
for a stranded young woman is to let
her alone. She was probably upset
enough without having a strange
man address her. So 1 just sat and
watched her with my heart in my
my eyes.
Was it possible, I began to ask my
I self, that her companion had played
her false? Had he purposely delayed
the checking other trunk, or had the
train really started without him? His
appearance was certainly against
him; but, Of course, as I knew moth
ing whatever of their circumstances
or relationship, it was hard for me.