River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-12-08

| heart of maiden ladies, but no dime
| Miss Amanda put her hand to her cheek
in frenzied sort of fashion and looked
appealingIy up at the browneyed con-
ductor. 4tseems, she said, bravely, 1T
seems that / have forgotten my fare.
| And then, wonder of wonders, the
| brown eyes smiled, and the owner there
| Of said, heartily: That's all right; III
| see you again."
| By this time Miss Amanda was quite
/ beyond speech. She opened her mouth,
| gasped desperately, made futile EFFORT
/ to stammer her thanks, then, observing
that the cold attention of her fellow pas.
sengers was becoming centered on heT
offending head, she retired precipitately
behind her second reader and sat in silent
| agony until time for her to transfer.
! But once more in the street, what
| different Miss Amanda! She walked
with a sprightly, kittenish movement
and patted her damp crimps with re-
/ assuring hand.
HE said he would see me again somt
morning" she whispered, hugging th'
intellectual forehead he has" And Mis-!
Amanda herewith gave herself up tt
| pleasant reflections, SO that her cheeks
had blossomed into an attractive pinh
| by the time she reached her school
room.
After that it was not always by acct
| dent that Miss Amanda boarded GER
tain car, although she always told herself
that she was greatly surprised to see
cher conductor" as she fondly called
him. He was No 72, so his cap said, and
it seemed to Miss Amanda that she
worked better through the day if she en-
countered his pleasant, smiling glance
| in the morning.
He always smiled at her now and
| tipped his hat. Miss Amanda drew her
| own conclusions. She had made some
modest changes in her person, too; hes
appearance was made girlish; her little
punches of curls on either side of her
| face had given place to pompadOur OF
generous dimensions, and her hat was
| draped with many wells which shrouded
| her chaste countenance in becoming OBJ,
| security.
Her evenings were spent reading
| large paper-back book entitled "The art
IF identifying the person" When bed
| time came Amanda rolled her hair into
countless little curl papers, which looked
like flock of small white birds on her
head, and massaged her face diligently
with a wonderful paste in pink box
which set forth on its lid that it cured all
facial blemishes in one night. Amanda,
strong in hope and faith, went to bed
each night convinced that the next morn
/ ing would see the desired transformation
effected.
Her days did not seem long now; they
were full of life and color, the nights were
hours of happy dreams, dreams in which
No. 72 rescued her from wrecks at the
risk of his life; dreams in which she
saw him draw her tenderly to his blue
shoulder and heard him whisper:
Dear love you"
And so the days passed ON, and Aman-
da's imagination, never at rest, added
picturesque details to her idyl.
She had already decided that she would
let him call as soon as he asked to, and
she had, after much serious deliberation,
decided upon what she should wear on
the momentous occasion.
One bright Sunday Amanda went to
walk in the park. The park was at it's
best, green was beginning to show in the
grass and the squirrels chartered nois-
lily in the trees
Amanda's heart was full of an unrea-
soning joy, her eyes filled with happy
tears. Everything is so beautiful, so
beautiful" she murmured softly to her
self.
| Coming down the path was happy
family party; two boys, evidently twins,
toddling with delightfully."- uncertain dig
nifty, then the mother and father, the lat
ter proudly pushing a go-cart which was
filled to it's utmost with two more fat,
beribboned babies.
Amanda blessed the group benevolent
ly in the fullness Of her heart and
stopped to talk to the advance guard,
when, looking UP, she encountered the
same pair of brown eyes that she had
seen for the first time on that rainy
Monday; the same pair of eyes that had
lived in her dreams ever since
Amanda bent her head silently.
When she raised it again the lines of
pain around her mouth were deep, but
her eyes were brave and smiling 1t had
only meant that hope had died within
her heart in that one brief instant that
/ the brightness had died out of the sky
and the green had gone out of the grass
but she nodded brightly to the innocent
cause of all her trouble. Then she turned
blindly and made her way back to her
fourth-story room.
That night the pink box was tenderly
consigned to the fire, and the army of
curl papers deposited carefully in the
waste basket.
And Miss Amanda. on her knees.
prayed, TREMENDOUSLY: "Turn away mine
eyes from vanity o Lord! and quicken