The Wahpeton times., 1906-06-21
Two Maiden's Problems
By HENRY ". FOUNTAIN.
Copyright. 1906. by Daily Story Pub. Coy

Copyri8ht, 1s06, by
Matters get mixed in this funny old
world Of ours. For instance, Florence
Morton, the belle Of the last season,
and a most distractingly pretty girl,
withal; with fortunes and titles await
ing her selection, providing she would
barter her fair self for them, was most
unhappy-for one reason.
Pro contra, Fanny Downs, belle Of
all the countryside about Swish VAL
ley. and as plump and rosy-cheeked
and tempting as ever was a country
lass: with the choice of all the sturdy
young fellows thereabouts at her feet,
also was most unhappy-for exactly
the opposite reason.
For My Lady Florence, satiated with
Jewels and fine raiment and the flat
terry OF men Of the world, tired Of lux
ury and the feverish pleasures of the
city, sighed for the love of a true,
sturdy man, and for a simple life of
honest love and endeavor in a mod
est way, far from brown stone fronts
and dazzling lights and uniformed
servants and all the pomp and PAN
oply of society warfare.
And Fanny, in her calico gown,
gazed out through the window, over
0er hot oven and sighed for silks and
satins and jewels and carriages and
servants and lights and the glitter
and sparkle of what she esteemed to
be true life-and she looked with dis
dain upon the honest young fellows
who sought her for herself alone, and
who looked into her eyes with the de-
sire of true love.
Is it not pity that these two maid
ems could not have changed places? Z?
But this is solution of problems not
In Natures scheme.
Now, Swish Valley, as the little sta
ton nesting in the mountains is
known, is not only the market place
and metropolis of that particular dis
trict, but is also the station where
the tired seekers for country air aban-
doned the hot trains from the city and
sought the cool breezes and country
odors pertaining to the great hotel on
the mountainside a. mile back, which
was eagerly sought during the sum-
mer season by some of the most exclu-
sive and wealthy denizens of the town.
The gorgeous butterflies of both
sexes had been thrust upon the at
tention Of Fanny for many years. In
deed, were they not the most. con-
spicuous spot in the life of the coun-
try about Swish Valley station, and
did not the Valley simply exist from
season to season between the depart
ure of the "swells" and the arrival
thereof? Besides, Fanny had waited
on table at the hotel for season or
two, and her quick eyes had taken in
all the splendor and luxury of the
situation.
Probably that was why she treated
Dave Bangs SO coldly after she got
home-Dave, who had been her un-
swerving lover and admirer ever since
she had been old enough to remember.
Dave dumbly accepted the coldness-
and kept coming whenever she would
let him in.
While Fannie stood beside the hum
BILE gate to her home and spurned her
true love and sighed for the titled
lover of her dreams, Florence endured
the attentions of My Lord Lyddon,
with his 40 years and his marks of dis
sipation and his intolerable air of
supercilious proprietorship, as best she
could. She knew the match was the
dream of her mothers heart, and
meant the rehabilitation of their
fortunes and the maintenance of their
social station. She loved luxury even
while hating the neartlessness of her
set-and she appreciated her mothers
necessities. Then there was Ralph
Sommers, whose quiet, steady eyes
would not leave nec mental vision, and
whose manly voice rang ever in her
ears: Florence, you must take your
choice. I cannot offer you wealth or
position-only an honest heart and all
the devotion of a lifetime"
She knew we'll enough what she
wanted-but the habit of all the years
and the pressure OF parental love and
.filial duty had kept her from her in
clinations.
My Lady Florence had passion for
riding, and the happiest hours she
spent in the mountains were while
she galloped over the country roads,
climbed the hills and half slid down
into the valleys. And she often passed
the plain, unpainted little farmhouse
in the dusk of the evening on her
return to the hotel, and many times
she saw pretty Fanny Downs standing
at the gate listening listlessly to big,
honest fellow, who seemed to be plead
ing his cause very earnestly, If some
what badly, and to whom Miss Fanny
seemed to turn ever an Indifferent, If
not impatient, ear. And something in
the appearance and poise of the big
fellow reminded her most distract
ingly of Ralph Sommers, and she
grew cross with the girl for her indlf-
ference-and then blushed as she
thought of her own treatment OF Som
mers. So it happened that she be-
came interested in the courtship at
the farm gate and hannonod vorv fra