The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-03-14
FROM THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE.

u
could tell the difference between a
potato buyer and and lightning rod
man forty yards away, announced
that he was satisfied. Young Ridge
ly belonged to neither class mention
ed, said Josiah, but was the son of a
banker and therefore perfect gen
tleman.
His announcement was followed by
that of Miss Ruth Williams, who was
also satisfied. Miss Ruth had seer
her twenty-ifth birthday. She was
the daughter of poor but proud wild
ow. She herself was also poor, but
proud. The widow did dressmaking
and millinery and was assisted by her
daughter. Poor but proud people
must do something to earn their bread
and butter.
1t was Miss Ruth's opinion that
the young and good looking stranger
was missing heir and that he ought
to be made to feel at home in Cress-
vile while waiting to be discover
ed" Her mother looked up from
her work to add:
ruth, you are twenty-five years
Old"
"Well, you needn't throw it in my
face" was the reply.
"You ought to get married."
"Well?"
''Set your cap for the stranger"
"Im going to-"
She did. She had been setting her
cap for various and divers men since
she was twenty, and if she hadn't
met with luck it was not her fault.
1t had always happened that they
died or got married to some one else
or had to leave Cressville to avoid the
sheriff.
The young man who had came to
walks. Ruth Williams found out
about it from the innkeeper's daugh-
ter and took a sunrise stroll. She
took it in just the direction and just
at the time to be rescued from an old
lame horse by young Ridgely. He
dashed forward like hero and beat
the old horse back, and Miss Ruth
duly expressed her gratitude and al
most tainted away. 1t was an auspi-
cious beginning.
In three days more it was the talk
of Cressville that Ruth Williams had
captured" the stranger. They went
riding and walking together. She
exhibited him to the neighbors and
held her poor but proud head higher
than ever before. At the end of the
second week they were supposed to be
engaged. If anybody had denied the
rumor, it would have been asserted
that young Ridgely had sat with her
on the front piazza two successive
evenings till after oo'clock.
"Ruth, have you got him?'' asked
the mother as the rumors reached
her ears.
"He hasn't proposed yet, but"
II see. Ruth, don't let him get
away"
Ruth didn't mean to; but, alas,
young men will stray. Uncle Jason
Davis was postmaster at Cressville,
but as he was in bed with rheumatism
and his wife had to nurse him his
niece, Miss Betty Sweet, came over
from Akron to help out in postal af-
fairs. She was girl of twenty and
fairly good looking. She didn't set
her cap for the stranger, but in his
calls at the postofice he became ac-
quainted with her and at length ask
ed her to go boat riding on the mill
pond. She went, and the widow laid
aside the hat she was trimming to say
to her daughter
Ruth, that chit of girl must be
crushed"
II shall crush her." replied the
daughter.
But Betty Sweet refused to be
crushed, and young Ridgely refused
to devote his entire attention to either.
He was having mild Irritation to as
sist the recovery Of his nerves, and
time passed pleasantly.
On the evening previous to his de-
parture he sat on the piazza with
Ruth. She had arranged it so. The
mother had gone to take home a
dress, with orders to hang OUT as
long as possible. 1t was an ideal
evening for proposal, and Ruth di-
vided the subject into twenty-four
parts and worked every one of them
| for all it was worth. 1t was in vain,
however. The nearest the young
man could be got to approach the dan
gerous subject was an admission that
when he got married he should have
hollyhocks in his front yard. When
he finally left, he said he might write,
and as the words were accompanied
by a sigh Ruth felt that she was still
! justified in hoping on.
A week passed, and no letter came.
Then second week followed. AT
the end of that time Ruth understood
how it was. A letter had arrived,
but had been suppressed by Betty
Sweet, who was, of course, determin-
ed to prevent marriage. In another
week it was public gossip that Betty
had tampered with the mails. She de-
MED it, of course. Some one thought
it his duty to write to Washington
about it, and it finally came about
that an inspector arrived in Cressville
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