Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1907-07-03
A Brief Engagement


er than to practice il. To be in love
to thern means 30 be lifted into realms
compared with which our IDEAS Of
heaven are tame.
l knew a poetess once. Miss Sarah
Jones. She wrote under the pseudo
nym of Madeline Lee. Miss Jones
was a real poetess. Unfortunately q
critic was required to appreciate what
she wrote though real critic would
place her poems on pretty high plat
form. He would read her verses. how
ever, with the wish that he might
catch hold of her skirts and pull her
down TO a nearer proximity with real
life feeling that If he cosld do so she
would express it beautifully. Never
theless Miss Jones occasionally dipped
into light vein and when she did so
was remarkably successful.
Miss Jones was fifty. She was as
impractical as flying machine. She
was continually getting locked out Of
her house because she could never re
member TO take the key. She had
nothing that she didn't lose. She lost
nothing that she could find. She al
ways had something to love in a poetic
way. whether it was a boy. girl. u
horse or dog. l once asked her why
she had never married. These were
her reasons. given in a slow. thought
full fashion that spoke more pictur-
esquely than her words:
l had lover once. He was fine
young fellow Everybody said be
would be successful; everybody ad-
imired, everybody respected him.
never knew why he took fancy TO
tme, but he did. There wasn't any
sthing more about me then to take
fancy to than there is now. 1t seems
ito me that l was exactly the snme as
y am todp. Ny skin wasn't so near
like parchment, and my teeth were
white, and none of them had dropped
out, but l had the same soul. and.
latter all. it's the soul that is loved. II
f1t were the body, how would old people
love each other?
1t didn't seem to me that my lover
flowed me for what l was really worth.
HE said he loved me because | was
peculiar, not like the other girls. |
suppose was well looking then. for
he praised my chestnut hair and my
drown eyes. That was the first time
KNEW that l had chestnut hair and
brown eyes. My eyes never interested
me, and my hair bothered me. for if /
didn't keep running comb through it
there was sure to be tangle But il
didn't seem to me that my lover was
man for me TO look up to, though
every one else looked up to him. He
said was too good for him.
One evening he came to see me after
I'd been writing. 1t was spring even
ing. The moon was half full The air
was laden with the odor of flowers
Lightning bugs Were flashing between
day and dark, and it seemed to me that
the earth was dressed in spangles and
the moon was lighting them up There
was a daffodil sky in the west. with
only one fine long cloud over the hori-
zon that looked as if it had been drawn
there with purple and vermilion pen.
Gil.
/ felt my lovers hand laid on mine:
then an arm stole around my waist.
He told me how he had loved me even
liwhen we We're children at school: that
she used to steal away from the other
boys to be with me, TO listen to the
strange things I said to him. He didn't
understand them. but they lifted me
upon plane above him and stimulated
his fascination for me. 1t was all very
sweet. The moon looked down on us
with smile. The frefiies grew dim;
the pencil streak in the west died
away. He asked me if / could give
him my love. I let my head sink on
his breast, where could hear the pull
stations of his heart, and said:
YES"
The next day began to wonder If
I'd done a very fine or a very silly
thing. There was no moon. no firefiies
no pencil mark on a daffodil sky.
was appalled, at the change in me. He
was to come to see me in the evening
and to get rid Of him l went away
from home to spend the night I did
not sleep a wink. "If this is the hap
piness of an engagement" l said to
myself, ''it is the happiness of insan
ity. At any rate, another day will
drive me crazy" l went home in the
afternoon resolved to tell him that
I'd made a mistake; he must release
me. They told me he had been to see
me the night before, and when he
learned that I'd gone away without
leaving any word for him he was
nearly frantic. I waited for him to
come again that might put him out
of his misery and have the thing over
with. He came at last and asked me
for heavens sake to tell him wha'
was the matter. l said to him:
Forgive me. didn't know what
] was doing"
"And you don't love me after alp
Il don't feel any different from
what I did before got engaged"
EfUaa1 7s