Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-12-26
A CHRISTMAS T0UCHSTOEE
BY Gertrude T. Lynch.

Mrs. Brisloe was young, pretty, witty
and a widowa combination of attrac-
tioi,s which is allotted TO but few OF
carth's favorites. She had taken these
gifts as a matter of course. not even eX-
ceptng her widowhood, which she nc
cepted with becoming SORROW, chastened
after the years ending with suggestions
OF heliohope. To say that she had adj
mirers is to state a self-evident fact.
There was no moment of her life when
she was free from proposal. Like the
sword of DamoclcS, the fall of q curl
might prceIpitate one. and usually did.
BY the time she had reached the sec
onG year of her widowhood she had
definitely made up her mind as to the
unfitn5ss Of several applicants. and sue
eeeded i'll convincing them of her conclu-
sioGs, though she could not change their
opinions as TO the fallibility of her judy
mCnt. She, however, in nearly every
case, retained the friendship of the re-
tused-a difficult task, as any woman
will admit when cornered.
Three of her refusals Mrs. Brsloe tenn
pered with so many apologies and sug
gestions for future plans that it is no
wonder the makers felt themselves iusti
fed III the belief that "a wOman's NO"
is capable of analy siS.
Ales>rs, Brown, Jones and Robinson
tthese are not their names) were the
favored ones. and in the contest for place
they ran neck to neck. While Mr.
Browns personal attractions outweiohed
those of Messrs. Jones and Robinson, Mr.
Jones could offer secure social position.
nj tl.. 6 II IL.
was somewhere in the hundred thousands
Mrs. lTisloe's first marriage had been
contracted Mt leisure and rcpcnted in
ha ste, the leisure showing nor, i'll retro
sPect that what man appears to be is
not always what he really is. During
their courtship Mr. Brisloe had been. so
to speak, on dress parade and it was not
until the walls Of their apartment offered
the challenge of sincerity that his wife
learned how Il cup of weak coffee is as
effective in turning ON wrath as soft
answer is III adding fuel to it. her Scrip
tural training To the contrary. She
learned that the words of the marriage
ceremony are really shibboleth which,
once pronounced, have the power of
changing the Gunea's stamp and show
ing the base metal beneath, Fate. how.
ever, obligingly removed Mr.. BriSloe be-
/ fore her line of disgust became Il wrinkle
She did not desire to find herself
/ chained second time to a man whose
+ disposition might prove to be as strange
as that of an East Indian potentatc,
neither did She wish To be yoked TO one
who had neither the self control nor di
] plomacy to meet the exigencics of mar
/ ried life in becoming manner. Her
! three chosen admirers gave ne clue III
I their conduct or phrases as to whether
+ the qualities they seemed to possess We're
the genuine articles or clever countcrfeits,
and 1t remained for Mrs BriSloe TO put
/ her wits To work TO clucidatc the prob
/ lem.
1t was during Christmas week that her
impulses in this direction became eryS.
talizcd, and she determined that with tho
end of the year should end her INDIGESTION.
Lake the superstitious who determine &C
tlon by the toss of q penny, she hung her
future happiness on an event of NOT
mitch greater value
A Christmas gift was the triAe select
ed, and ii was in the manner of accept
ance that her admirers were to show
their mettle. \ man who can receive
with savoir iaire and diplomacy some.
thing which he not only does not want.
but Inch even arouses in him a. feeling,
OF artagonism must, so Mrs Brisloe rea /.
soned with feminine indircctness. possess
some Of the characteristics If the house.
hold angel, Tor whose c1mpaniopship on