The evening world., 1904-02-18
Boy and Girl EIope, Pursued by
Her Mother, Who Founders
In Drifts Behind Them Until
She Is Almost Exhausted.
FINDS YOUNG COUPLE
FACING THE MINISTER.
Too Weak to Protest, She Gives
Consent to Marriage, and the
Trio Tramps Back Home with
Faces and Feet Frozen.

feet and faces frozen. Andrew Finnar,
q boy OF sixteen, and his bride. OF nf-
teen, are spending their honeymoon In
the homo OF the brides mother. Mrs.
Palmer. at Palmersville. a small settle
ment nve miles from here. They were
married after n romantic courtship
which all but ended in tragic death in
the snow
Aheir marriage took place late Tues
day evening after they had eloped from
the homo OF the girls mother and
q ten miles through the snow,
pursued at every step by the mother OF
inc girl The woman fioundered along
through the drifts behind them until she
zen almost at the minute her
and the boy to whom she OBJ
1ected stood before the minister.
MIS-. Palmer, a widow. has a small
farm at Palmersville. and last summer
employed as a helper Andrew Finner.
a sturdy youth who had grown I'D In
tne country. Olive Palmer then was a
girl OF fourteen. Her whole life had
oeen spent on the farm and her mother
looked upon her as a little child.
The watchful mother late in the fall
discovered that Andrew was spending
more Of his time with her daughter
than was proper. according to the moth
er's way of thinking. She called her
daughter to her and said:
This has got to stop. You will spoil
q good farmland the first thing you
know. II hat boy Is to continue to
work for me he must see less OF you
and more of the barn"
Clandestine Meetings.
Olive was headstrong. She encouraged
the boy to see more of her thar ever
n the o%nsequenc was that Andrew
wa dismissed from service. Nothing
daunted. the boy sought and found
work on a neighboring farm and then
there caine clandestine meetings.
Mrs. Palmer discovered shortly be:
fore Christmas that notes were being
passed between her daughter and her
former hired and She intercepted
Rome OF these notes and they made II
plain that an elopement had been
planned for Christmas week. Mrs.
Palmer then asserted her authority.
Olive was locked in her room and for
W weeks she was kept there con-
Btantly. Mrs. Palmer believed that
this would dampen her arder for
Andrew. but she was mistaken.
No soone had Olive been released
from the house than she and Andrew
Hgain met by appointment. They guard
ed these meetings careruily TINS tiHe'
Mrs. Palmer believed that Andrew had
passed from the mind of her little
daughter when she returned to her
lone Tuesday at noon.
Where is Oliver" she asked.
I'VE haven't seen her. one OF the
maids answered. She has beer gone
Tor Some time"
Minister Wouldn't Marry Them.
Mrs. Palmer guessed the truth
quickly. Hastily throwing a shawl
Lbout her shoulders she made for the
po~st-ofice at Pslmersville. She learned
there that Olive and Andrew had
passed half an hour before on the road
going in the direction of Moun Free
dom. a village six miles off. This road
is little used in summer and in winter
It is so rough that Il is rarely any one
passes over It. Mrs. Palmer could see
the tracks u the pair in the snow and
she set out after them, running at
times, and then walking to catch her
breath.
Have you seen my daughter?' she
cried out as she burst into the home
Of the Rev. DR.. A. l. Convey. at Mount
Freedom,
IT have. Madame replied the min
isteg, s"She and young Finner were here.
until. ten minutes ago. They came in to
he married and l laughed at them and
gave them a good lecture. They told me
that nothing could keep them from be-
Ing man and wife. They left here. !
would not follow. because L don't be-
lieve any one will marry them. Your
daughter hasn't on long dresses and
yhat Finner boy Is only a child, too"
Mrs. Palmer waited to neal no more.
che started on a run toward the home
OF the Rev. John Hillman. two miles
distant. Already the mother was we'll
nigh exhausted. Several times she
stumbled and fell headlong in the snow.
Her shoes were frozen to her feet. Her
face was frozen and her body was numb
from cold, but she stumbled on.
Exhausted Mother Consents.
She staggered with weakness as she
entered the home OF the minister. walk
ing in the tracks of the couple that
had gone in i've minutes before. She
did not walt to knock. She burst
through the door and fell exhausted In
q chair in The room where her daugh-
ter and FinEer stood before the min
lister. The mother was too weak to
speak. The minister said to her:
Your daughter wants me to marry
her. Sl.all do SO? If you say the
word / will. Unless you do 1 must
refuse"
AIRS. Palmer looked helpless. II am
too exhausted to oppose any one now.