The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1906-08-30
I
! A College Love Affair !
I By B. J. KRONER Z

By B. J. KRONER

All the travel he had INDUCED in.
all the hard work. all the business
absorption and worry, all the great
auhrs OF life which had occupied his
ume during the strenuous years fol.
lowing his graduation from college.
had not erased from his mind and
ueart the memory of dainty care.free
Laura Tolman, his old sweetheart of
the college days.
rye had suspected this before he re-
turned to the old scenes; now that
ne was here the conviction came to
him with crushing force. Every
shaded walk, every leafy retreat.
every part of the old college bui-d-
ings and the campus seemed 70 he
awe with her presence. AS he
walked the old familiar paths he
seemed to hear the music of her girl
Ism voice and to catch the very aroma
OF her sweet presence.
With a groan he admitted it-he
mad failed utterly in the task he had
set himself out to perform. He had
gone away that day when her en-.
gagement to Bently was announced
determined to forget her. The strug-
gle that afternoon had been hard
one, and many times he had thought
OF the river as the most peaceful
haven he could find Finally his
PRIDE had triumphed, and, set
ting his teeth with that peculiar grit
ty motion the fellows on the grid.
iron knew so well, he had said to
himself.
Claude Belknap, brace up Where
is the spirit of your forebears. Are
you to let a chit of girl ruin your
life-especially a girl who throws you
over for fellow who is only after
her money!"
And so he had gone bravely away
with a song on his lips, but with
gloom in his heart. He had worked
hard, and not without success. The
very whole-heartedness with which he
threw himself into his work and
which was born of his desire to so
occupy himself that he would forget
the laughing face and saucy eyes of
his college sweetheart, drove him on
to success. He had taken up a siren
uous profession. and 1t had carried
him to many climes and into much
danger.
In the stress and heat of the bat
tie with fortune he had flattered him
helf that the old wound had healed,
and finding himself in the near vicin-
ity of the old college town, he had
rashly decided to revisit the old
scenes, Then like the rush of the tide
came the realization that he ever
would love the sweetheart of his
youth, wherever she was and what
ever her condition or relationship
The realization frightened him when
the thought flashed across his mind
that she was the wife of another
Heartsick with his own reflections,
he sought to escape them by calling
on Miss Carrie Sample, who still
lived in the town, and who had been
great chum in the old days. He
was given so warm welcome as to
make him forget for the moment the
bitter pain in his heart. The CONVEX
sation naturally reverted to the old
college days and the old boys and
girls. Belknap had been abroad Sc
long and so occupied with business
that he had lost track of them to q
considerable extent, but Miss Sam
pie, having lived all the years under
the very caves of the old college, and
being a cosby piece, knew where
nearly all the old classmates were
who they married, how they were
prospecting, and all the other details
which so delight the feminine heart
The conversation was animated anC
extended, and Belknap for the time
being forgot his heartache under the
magic of this clever and friendly lit
tie woman.
1t was when she dragged forth
from a sacred drawer bundle of ole
class photographs and that he was
most painfully recalled to his grea
sorrow.
"Oh, but do you remember this pic
mic we had" she exclaimed, shovini
photograph in front of his yer!
nose.
Did he remember? The bloot
rushed back into his heart at The
memory until he thought he would
faint. 1t was snapshot of a groul
at a picnic. The girls adorned will
the boys hats, and the boys wearini
the feminine millinery. 1t was jus
outside an apple orchard surrounded
by a high stone fence, over which bu
at a perilous height hung a bougl
of luscious fruit. In the very cen
Ter of the picture was Belknap, ant
perched audaciously upon his Shout
der was Laura Tolman, supported b!
his strong and steady arm pickini
the apples and throwing them down
TO the laughing comrades below. Die
he remember that picnic? 1t was tn,
day when, maddened by the contac
with her dainty self, he had poured
forth his love and then, frightened a
his own audacity, had stammered ant
failed to ask the vital question.
The photograph brought back al
the memories of the afternoon. ant
.,,,o1 oil his latent passion, As h.