The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-08-14

knew of Oldsburg and its people. If he
had been older he might have been
Siadder TO forget It. for there misfOr-
tune had overtaken his family, his
mother had died, and mis- vague recol-
lection of the place pictured the one
long, dismal street down Which he
rode in a carriage to the cemetery,
where the autumn leaves reeked in a
cold rain and the clay falling into a
grave sounded like the thumD Of his
old toy drum.
Dan Kent, having a merry heart,
didn't want to cherish any such dreary
memories. So he had grown to man
hood without revisiting the home OF his
infancy. Not so his father. The old
man managed to stay away from the
scene of his disaster till Joshua CoIvin
died. Then he went 10 the funeral of
his old friend and partner, and ever
after, up to the time OF his death, main
ta1ned habit Of periodical visits to the
old home town. Dan thought this odd
at nrSt; then ne began to suspect that
there was some old, long buried 70
nance between his father and the
Widow Colvin.
You're right, Dan" said the old
man, when his son twitted him about
the Oldsburg visits. I'D marry her now
if I wasn't so old and poor. and If you
take my advice you'll go after her
daughter. Kate"
They were like brothers in their
4faHA anu loving relationship IN those
days, and Dan, who liked to banter his
father, was almost glad to have some
thing on the old man. But when the
elder Kent grew feeble he talked always
more and more of the Colvins. If they
We're joke with Dan, they were not so
with his father.
Il wish you'd go up and see them"
he would say. Il can't any more, and
DAM wish you'd see Kate-young
Kate. Bet you'd fall in love with her
In spite of yourself. 1 wish you would,
and marry her.
And a few days before he died:
Dan, If anything happens TO Kate
or her mother, viii you do what you
can for them? Promise, Dan. You'll
write to them, anyhow"
When his father died. Dan grieved
like a man, and Tegained his spirits like
the wholesome. cIean-hearted youth he
was; but he forgot about the Colvins
after he had answered the widows let
ter Of coincidence. He remembered
them again. when he saw In the Olds-
burg Banner the obituary of Mrs Kate
Nlebling COlVin- He ought To have
gone to Oldsburg 10 comfort the orphan
girl, but he dislifSed funerals and he
couldn't get over his gloomy impression
OF the Old town. So he wrote a letter TO
Kate, as he had promised his father.
sending such words of comfort as
stranger must, but Offering TO be of
any assistance in his power. He
scarcely expected a reply, but he got
one within a week.
II was a stilted, studied letter. She
was grateful for kind words from the
son of her mothers kind friend. She
would 90 quite well, she thought. when
she got back to her work as a school
teacher. Her work might help her to
forget. 1t was q dismal Ietter-iust like
Oldsburg. he thought-and he did not
answer II. month later he got an
other from her. Would he kindly buy
fer her Kinyon's pedagogical chart? It
would cost about 81. which she fuclosed
Il VIII be ever so much obliged she
concluded. He found the chart, which
cost 50. and sent her a note in which
he said he was glad TO be of service. He
didn't mention that he was loser by 81
in the transaction.
Within a fortnight another letter
came to him from Kate Colvin, in
which she said that she had iust
more, and that she would return the
balance the moment her salary was
paid They are in arrears with me for
the last two months" the letter said,
but am sure they viii pay US before
Christmas"
To Dan Kent there was something
polgnantly sad in the plain, simple,
but accomplishing statement of, the
country school teachers poverty. Two
doharsi He was making money and
ing young man could Evidently poor
Kate Colvin could not spare 81 from
scanty hoard that might not be re-
plenished at once He was a generous.
tender fellow. and, somehow, that bald.
almost childiike confession of q girls
lonely struggle for the benefits which
he won so easily and regarded so
lightly, gave sharp sting to his
gentle spirit and clouded his radiant
face
Then he made a natural but most
egregious mistake. He wanted to write
a kind sympathetic and helpful let
ter, but he let a lot of sentiment into
II. Sentimental passages never look
right to a sensible girl who reads them
IN letter from a man she has never
seen. Resides, Dan wasn't exactly
a master of rhetoric at that time and
what he wrote could have been
couched in terms of infinitely greater
tact and delicacy by any second rate
romance writer. His first faux pas,
however, was in enclosing a postofice
money order for $50. "a loan. of
course" he wrote. which 1 trust you
Will accept until such time" etc
1t was awful, Of course. but Dan
was young and he meant to do a kind
office to the orphan girl in Oldsburg.
When he mailed the letter il daWped
upon him that he had made an ass
of himself. The more he conned over
the sentences which he had meant to
be the finest, the surer he was that
they were coarse. impairment, idiotic
She would be offended at his tone.
insulted. at his offer to loan her money.
I feel that there is a bond of SYM
pathy between u.s." etc, had been the
best he could think of as IAN APP
proach" TO the mention Of a loan
but now ii sounded inexpressibly silly
he got her answer by return mail
and when he tore open the envelope
the 500 fell on the floor. Serves me
right he gasped but his eyes began
TO bulge when he saw the first line of
the letter itself
Dear. dear friend" it began Sad
sad, indeed must that heart be which
cannot be cheered by the sweet deli
cacy ana soulful sympathy Of friend
ike you. o, how my lonesome heart
goes out responsibility, and yet"
Rats"
That's what Dan said He could
hardly force himself to read it. IL his
letter had beeen badly framed, hers
was the dregs OF gush. A wild hope
that Kate Coivin hadn't written it
seized him., but the narrowest compare
son showed il to be her handwriting
There was nothing absolutely immod-
est in her hysterical epistie but it
rairly oozed sentinentality which Dan
was sure he would always despise in
woman
Glad to get back my fifty any
how he sneered, pocketing the order
ana tearing the letter with one angry