Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1905-05-11
BY MARGARET e. sANGsrER.


nearly four years. Thomas is in re-
ceipt of good salary, quite sufficient
to support little home in comfort, and
he is constant and devoted in his at
tentions to Agatha. His calls, four or
five evenings week, have become as
much q thing of course as the striking
of the clock. A little after eight, in
walks Thomas. A little after ten, out he
goes. Tender good-nights are ex-
changed at the door. Agatha slips away
to bed. Thomas strolls homeward.
How long is this philandering to go
on" mutters Agatha's father to he:
motbsr, in the privacy of their chamber.
For two years they have been obliged,
after our American fashion, to exile
themselves from the living-room. or par
lor, whichever they call it, and spend
their evenings in the dining-room or
their own room upstairs. Agatha and
her fiance talking, talking, talking, In
low tones like the ripping of brook,
have monopolized that part of the
house. Itseems to the parentsafter awhile
that the long engagement is telling
unfavorably on their daughters health
and spirits. and they think it time that
affairs reached crisis, that they cul-
minated in wedding.
Agatha thinks so, too. She is beyond
words annoyed with and weary Of the
situation. The most devoted pair Of en-
gaged lovers, in the course Of several
years, exhaust their topics of CONVERSE
ton. They are in danger of drifting
into state of morbid and unwholesome
ennui. We're they married. a host of
common, practical interests would draw
them closer, and give them a basis on
which to build their house of Joy. The
management of the home, the cooking
for two, the mending, the making, the
identification of the husband and wife
as one family in its front to the world.
help to bind them into that union which
is strong as life itself.
A long engagement, dragging slowly
and interminably on. when there is no
apparent reason for delayed marriage.
is very trying experience to girl. She
knows that her friends discuss her and
wonder why the wedding Is deferred.
She attends the weddings Of other
friends. She begins TO be socially, par
don the slang, q back number. An en-.
gagged girl cannot compete in social in
tercourse with her friends who are still
free. Very likely she has been prepar.
fng her store of linen: and there are piles
of sheets and towels over which she
fingers with that house-wifely yearning,
known 10 women when they are plan
ming a new home. knew one girl who
waited IL years, while her tardy lover
continued his visits, never even family
abiding to marriage. The memory Of
her girlish yves" was growing remote.
when her young sister announced her
engagement. shyly adding: Edwin
wants to be married in three months.
don't see how I can be ready" "You
might be ready If Edwin wanted you to
marry him Tomorrow" said the older
woman. you shall have my things"
and the elaborate trousseau, as we'll as
the beautiful stock of fine linen was
forced upon the blushing bride-to-be.
The first engagement was broken, as it
should have been long before.
Our English cousins allude to the
loosely-managed betrothals that over
here so often dissolve in mist, as dang
ling" It would seem that ''dangling"
Is thing unworthy an honorable man.
Agatha's prospective mother-in-law,