Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-08-22
THE INCONVENIENCE
or SUPERSTITION
tOriginal.1

:
months, absence fastened to congrat-
ulate my Intimate friend Tom Funk
on his engagement, which he had an
nounced to me by letter a: few days
after my departure. found him in his
den at home smoking an after dinner
cigar. He listened to all the pleasant
things had to say to him about enter
Ing upon the happy engagement period,
then, after waiting for me to light a
cigar he handed me, settled back in his
chair and said:
you're too late. It's off,"
"Of?"
eyes, off-off for good"
"What's the trouble?"
"There is or was just one fault In
great many in me, her one fault is
staggerer"
electromagnetic?
No. Quite economical"
"Fond Of admirationY"
mo more than any woman"
'Hot tempered?"
ION the contrary, she's very ami
able"
II give it up. Tell me what it Isl
"She's chock full Of petty supersti-
lions. You know how long Twas try
ing to get her. Well, the reason was
that she was consulting fortune tellers
to find out whether the match would
be lucky or an unlucky one. The
witch she had most confidence in told
her that there was dark gentleman
wanting her chats mel, but If she
married him she'd be very unhappy. It
took me year to find out about this,
but when did fixed the witch with
five dollar bill and she told Molly
she'd got the light and dark gentlemen
mixed, and Molly was to marry the
dark one. This settled it, and / sup
posed the coast was clear when Molly
Informed me that my original proposal
had been made on a Friday and must
do it over. l was to call and take her
by surprise just as had done on the
first occasion. l agreed, and do you
know struck the thirteenth day Of the
month. I had to wait a few weeks in
order to surprise her again, and this
time I didn't strike any bad luck.
proposed for the third time.
"Stupid ass that l was, l went off
and bought an opal engagement ring.
When I offered 1t Molly almost faint
ed. She said that even to offer an
opal would involve a never ending
chain Of bad luck. The engagement
must be broken and we must begin
all over. This made me tired, but l
was very much in love and consented
to what I couldn't help. It took us
two months to get around to where l
| could give her another ring. l bought
one with number Of stones in the
setting, a big one in the center, with
two outer circles, the whole forming
| cluster As soon as she saw it she be-
gan to count the stones and in another
moment turned pale and dropped the
ring. .:
"'What Is the matter nowY I gasped.
"There are thirteen jewels
II swore. Then I told her that she
must either wear that ring or go with
| out one. Her amiability conquered,
and consented to begin over once
more. The next time l got ahead of
the fates by giving solitaire dia-
mond. That was four months after
she had accepted me.
81 was invited to her house to a
dinner to celebrate our engag cement
Molly and I sat side by side. I acct
dentally upset the saltcellar between
| US. -
"'Throw it over your shoulder,
| quick!' she screamed. I grabbed the
heavy cut glass saltcellar and, throw
ing it over my shoulder, smashed a
mirror on the sideboard.
"'The salt! The salt! she cried.
| Not the saltcellar.'
| "'Confound the saltr l blurted.
"She grabbed fistful of the salt
and tried to throw it over my shoulder;
but, being in a hurry, she threw it into
my eyes. Great heavens, how it smart
ed! l lost my temper and said lot
of things that shocked my prospective
mother-in-law, but the father-in-law
looked at me approvingly, and l knew
he was on my side, though he didn't
dare say SO.
"Molly wet her napkin in finger
bowl and wiped the salt out of my
| eyes. She was so lovely about it all
that j quieted down, and, though the
! rest Of the dinner was not exhilarat-
ing, there was at least no bad feeling.
"Of course insisted on replacing the
mirror, and, of course, was not per-
mitted to do so. My own celebration
of our engagement was to be q party
to the opera. paid $25 for box and
invited the whole Of Molly's family
seven persons. Everything looked
promising, the weather was fine and
would have a good time. But just as
we were entering the opera house
Molly and I both stubbed our toes on
a half step between the entrance pas
sage and the foyer. Do you know,
that girl turned and led the whole
party out on to the sidewalk, where
she declared that nothing could in
duce her to go in again, for the opera
house would burn down If she did and
there would be a holocaust. So we
all went home. .
Il treated her, SO coldly after that
! that I supposed she would break the
engagement. She bore it all beauti-
fully. But had had enough of 1t and
determined to- get my freedom. I
went :to:a. seventh: daughter Of a sew
,enth:. daughter and paid her we'll to
Fgtve>, me an unlucky horoscope. She