Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1906-10-11
A MODERN INVENTION.

lIOW LIS seal VI d udliO q Al enS 6eH
eral store.
"They We made life easier" answer.
ed Ellery Brown. 1t was an old dis
cussion of theirs-a topic they fell
back on when all else failed. Jonas
dwelt on the numerous accidents that
were unknown in leisurely age-coach
days; Ellery talked of the wonders OF
machinery and electricity.
"Poohl" shifted Jonas. who
any better off for the shocks kilograms
bring EN-? And as for electric lights
"a pretty girls face used to look
twice as well when there were only
candles shiningl Not that you'd care
about that he added slyly, and FL
lery Redeemed. Everyone knew that
he was the shyest man in all Elmway
village.
As child he became speechless
with confusion when anyone noticed
him; he stammered and suffered his
way through the gawky age, and when
be arrived at young manhood, though
popular among his own sex, the sight
of girls face, particularly a charm
ing one, would send him into an az
ony of self-consciousness, so much
so that always he took the opposite
side of the road when he saw a fem
mime acquaintance approaching. He
Stunned picnics and socials as if they
were pestilence. He would rather
have died than taken a girl rowing
or driving. His neighbors laughed
and wondered what would happen
should Ellery fall in love. Ellery
himself never considered the subject,
and that may have been the reason
why love took him unawares.
He was sitting in church ore bright
Sunday in summer when his attention
was arrested by the sight of a stran-
ger in the Hardy's pew, a slip OF a
girl in blue muslin, with wide pic
ture hat trimmed with roses.
From where he sat he could see
the delicately tinted oval Of her cheek
and the pale gold of her wavy hair.
Then she turned her head and their
eyes met. Hers were dark gray,
fringed with heavy lashes. Ellery's
heart began a ridiculous tattoo, the
hands that were holding his book
trembled and he colored to the roots
of his hair.
ats Arabella Hawkins, whisper
ed someone behind him. Every now
and then Ellery ventured glance in
her direction. The sun, slanting
through one of the small stained-glass
windows, touched her with rainbow
colors utterly dazzling. 81 wish l
could walk home with her." sighed
Ellerly; "but do 1 dare?"
"If you don't, someone else WILL
his common sense said, and when the
last hymn had been sung and the PEG.
pie were moving slowly down the
aisles Ellery pressed forward, his
courage at white heat. He spoke a
word of greeting to Mrs. Hardy, and
then was presented to Arabella.
How it happened he scarcely knew,
but soon he and his divinity were
strolling along towards the Hardys,
and she was telling him that she had
come from Centreville for two weeks
visit She was as talkative as she
was pretty, and had a faculty of put
ting him at his ease. To Ellery it
was an experience as delightful as it
was novel, and he resolved to repeat
it by calling the next evening.
And though, in the days that fol-
lowed. his footsteps were not the only
ones that wendell their way to the
Hardy gate, he managed to monopo-
lie the greater share of Arabella Z
time. His shyness was gradually
wearing away, but there was one
question he longed to ask and could
not.
In vain he rehearsed it. Alone in
his room it was easy enough to say,
"Arabella, will you marry mer
Yet when he was with her the words
| seemed to cleave to the roof Of his
mouth. Over and over again he led
up to it, only TO halt miserably wher
the crucial moment came
could you-could you"-he STAN
mered on one of these occasions.
''Could l what, Ellery2" queried
Arabella. (They had gone as far az
Christian names.
could you-go driving with me
| tomorrow" 1t was not in the least
what he had meant to say, yet as hs
mopped his brow it vaguely occurred
to him that perhaps in a buggy il
l-1,,ld ba aao,or