Mower County transcript., 1905-09-06

/ small band az pupils, gave her plenty
of time Tor thought. Once week,
usually o. Saturday, she received a
letter from her brother, and that, to-
gether with the mild excitement Of
Sunday churchgoing, was all that
broke the monotony Of her life.
"A week after the g Christmas visit she
received a package containing a new
book, three Of the latest popular songs
and box of candy, and pinned to the
candy Frank Nason's card, on the back
of which was written, ''For the girl
! who wanted to kiss her teacher # Y.
She wrote polite note Of thanks. 1t
| was midwinter and two weeks after
her brother wrote that Frank had be-
J gun studying law in his Office when she
received letter from that young man
that surprised~her. He wrote:
My Dear Miss Page-I trust you will
| pardon me for intruding myself upon you
but wish you to know that a few point
ed words spoken by you while I was en-
joying your hospitality have*not been for
gotten and have inf1u uenced me to make
an effort to be something better than an
| 1dler in the world. Your brother kindly
consented to let me read law in his Office,
and I am now hard at It, I do not imag-
inc this will interest you, but felt that
you had scant respect for useless people,
| wanted you to know that I am capable Of
rising above my aimless life.
1 have recalled so many times all the
| little Incidents of my visit to your home
! and lived over those evenings graced by
your presence and lit by a cheerful fire
L. >s,.1p
cere when I assure you that they were
the most delightful ones I ever passed
| If you find time to write a line to one
| who is now a worker in the hive instead
! of a drone, it will be gratefully received
by me.
] To a girl with Alice Pages sympa-
thetic nature and tender feelings words
| like these made her feel she was what
she most enjoyed being-an inspiration
| and help to others. In this respect
Frank Mason had read her better than
! she had read him, or else some fortu-
nate intuition had led him Alright. She
answered the letter at once, thanking
him for his fattering words, but for
bidding him to use any more of them.
#"I do not like fattery," she wrote,
because no one ever can feel quite
sure it is sincere. will answer all
| your letters if you will promise not to
| tell Bert we are corresponding. Not
that am ashamed of it by any means,
but he is inclined to tease me, and
love him so dearly can't bear to have
him do so. The little girl you sent the
candy to was both astonished and CRATE
full. did not, tell her who sent it, for
the fact would have been all over town
lin. a week if had, and do not like to
be gossiped about. l merely told her a
good fairy had sent it, which was bet
I I: cSssagtnce a. week thereafter Alice re-
ceived long letter from Frank and as
regularly answered it.
| "Frank is getting along nicely" Al
| bert wrote Alice in the early spring.
II believe he has the making Of a ca
pab!e lawyer in him. He grinds away
harder than I ever did when reading
law and has never yet complained of
how dry and dull it all is. He is big,
warm hearted fellow, too, and 1 am
growing more fond Of him every day.
| He is more devoted to me than BROTH
er, and we have made lot of plans
for months outing on the Gypsy this
coming summer. like his family very
| much, and Mrs. Mason and both her
! daughters have invited me to bring
| you down when your school closes to
| make them a visit. l think l shall run
up in June and stay over Sunday and
bring Frank with me. I imagine he
would like to come, for once in awhile
l overhear him humming Ben Bolt:'"
"a very nicely worded little plot. but
don't you ina gine, my dear Bert, do
not see through it!' was the mental
comment Of Alice when she read the
letter. The young gentleman has
bravely set to work to become a man
instead of a cipher. My brother likes
him; he whistles Ben Bolt;' my broth
er is to bring him up here again; am
expected to fall in love with Mr.. Ci-
pher that was and help him spend his
money, and / am to be barely toler-
ated by mamma and both sisters! A
most charming plot, surely, but it takes
| lWO u MdAc UdISdlu. luluh
know just the sort of people mamma
and sisters are. He told me she read
him lecture every time he danced
twice with poor girl, and now I am
expected to walk into the same trap
and cringe to her ladyship for the sin
of being poor. guess not! I'll teach
school till die first, and he can think
Of me as having a slab Of granite so
gray to keep me in place"
| But this diplomatic "Sweet Alice"
wrote to her brother: II am delighted
that you are coming up, for I am so
lonesome, and the weeks drag so hard!
Bring your friend up, by all means,
and I'll sing Ben Bolt till he hates
the name of Sweet Alice. The country
will be looking fine then, and he can
60 over to the cemetery and select the
corner I am to occupy. Pardon the
joke, and don't tell him I uttered it,
To Frank she wrote: "Be sure to
come up with Bert. I will sing all the
/ ILL