The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-04-17

I, 8shs was quite dlstractinE person.
was u Younger then aid more s,iscepti-
e' 't'. v I may say lacked discrimination,
r ~ TO - speak Sof knowledge OF hutnan ma
t5plre, and gaA If, especial women. Rowe
| ma lts 9 beauty attracted mo and began
soon 81, 5to be Interested IN her. It seems
lnllp'ss'urd. tlow, that / should hnvo allowed
ni;Xiseit 70 BIO cajoed BY stlcli mere chit
Win Win PINK CHECKS. but ut tho time ! was
sure l'l That i was seriously smlttcn. ~
course o9ulrr YOU must understand tho attach
,nentl was gradual. l am not naturally
i mp ~ Or reckless, and was en-
feeeettiihgl careful TO do nothing what
ever to Arouse gossip. i was very guard
ca. LOO. y, my first offers of friendship
TO be sure hat such feelings would be
reciprocated. sounded her and FOUND
that I was not. 3upon the whole, unht-
tractive to her. s
began BY Keeping her after school oc..
casionally, ostensibly for tho purpose or
Ewing advice iii her Latin syntax. upon
"hich point she was lamcntnbly weak.
ana also TO stimulate her desire for high
et scholarship, for she was of but inedi-
OGRE intellectual endowmcnts, am
afraid. i3fs
Occasionally, too, II permitted myself TO
walk home with Rowcnn. amusing her
"Colerldge's Table Talk" or Eighteenth
Century Wlt{an Ilumor" She was nj.
ways responsive, often slightly too much
so. laughing in1moderately at things that.
to INC. seemed mt best but mildly anus
Ing Poor. little thing! | suppose the
opportunity for truly intellectual com :
,adeship wth8n highly cultivated man
slightly 8bcwlldcred her with excitement.
But tile pathetic lack Of true scholar
ship annoyed me exceedingly, j Y my
foolish, fondness for, the young Rowenn.
! fancied that l might klndlc her pride
In her work by occas Ionally marking her
rectattons slightly higher than strict
estimate would t$flnd them worth.t Slo
seemed to be- delighted by these grat,il :
tons credits, and her parents expressed
thmselves as being pleased to find her
doing 80 we'll lin the class. Sometimes,
too liwoud give her hints as to the COM
position, of an English theme to be hand :
ed In hastily stretching the subject and
poitting out &cross-refercnces easily at
tainable,{ and tlenrshe would look at inc
with her blue. innocent eyes in way
that made me. i admit It frankly. wish
to embrace her. But ! restrained my
self, and never gave any one the slight
est chance toquestion my behavior.
My friendship with Rowena was, to the
last, Platonc.3 ri ii 5l 83s
LAT times she asked me in regard to
3LnO VlleSLlOHS1hlllL ~ oPpuhulli6 W
the morrow. and, thinking that In this
way she mightNbe induced to give more
attention to her studies than she had
done. L would give her guarded hints as
to my qulzzes and invariably found that
she had been greatly helped IN her work
Thereby. Encouraged BY this sign OF IN
terest and anxious to form her mind moro
broadly In the pure interests Of her In
tellectual llfe,l made a practice Of ascer-
tanning in roundabout way the cues
lions to be asked by other instructors In
tho chemistry and mathematics eXami-
nations and communicated to R0wenn
their general tenor L was glad to see
that. owing perhaps to this encourage
ment, she began to take a sincere inter-
est In, her class standing. Despite the
fact that, by this time, she began TO be
called, In juvenile derlson, "the teachers
pet owing to a misa pprehension Of my
motives, she was recognized as one Of tho
leaders Of they senior class. ,.9f
But therewasS one "little rift within the
lute"--it Is Tennyson. belleve.!who SO ex-
presses it-that began to threaten trou-.