The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1907-01-04

1t was a fact we'll known in social
circles in Traverse City that Henry
Harrington Hawkins and K. Ogden
WATERBURY were rivals for the hand Of
Miss Kate BarStoW, but it was only
known to three or four people that the
aforesaid handsome young girl had al
ready plightcd her troth with Burt
Rayl. manager of the big department
store. and that when the marriage
came off he was to have an interest In
the business.
Mr. Hawkins was a young man of
aesthetic tastes. He was law stu
dent and wrote sonnets to himself, and
his income was IS Il week. Mr.. Win
terbury neither had aesthetic tastes
nor wrote poetry. He was employed
by firm publishing Il state gazetteer,
and he therefore called himself liter
airy man and tried to make his salary
of $50 per week carry out his asser-
tons.
If Burt RayI had been of Il Jealous
disposition there would have been no
rivalry between the other two, but he
was not, and as Miss Kate was being
kept in caramels and roses by the
rivalry and as good looking girls are
as prone to mischief as palmer ones
she let matters go on.
She knew of the rivalry, but took no
notice of it. Both young men were
treated alike. They had been friends
up to the occasion Of a certain lawn
party. when both fell in love. From
passed each other in the street to glare
and mutter. They sat together in the
Barstow parlor, with the young lady
making IL good third, and smiled and
smiled and yet wished each other dead.
If one got away early in the evening
for q game of croquet with the object
of his affections the other Waylaid
him on his homeward way and hit him
in the back with stones. If Miss Bar
stow attended Il sacred concert with
Mr. Hawkins it was Mr.. Winterbury's
turn to throw missiles. Their love for
the girl was broad and deep and long
and desperate. Neither of them stop
ped to figure on the cost of pork or po-
tatoes or the price of house rent. That
would have been abasing their love.
Things went on. Things go on even
if people are in love. Traverse City
decided TO hold county fair. All the
big hogs. fat cattle, old ganders, fancy
bedquilts, gigantic pumpkins, over
grown cucumbers and three legged
calves in the county We're to be ex-
hibited, and one cnterprsing individual
bought the privilege of setting up a
Ferris wheel on the grounds. 1t was
one that had seen its best days at a
seashore resort and was longing for a
rest.
When the fair opened. of course every
body was there. That meant that Miss
Kate Barstow and Mr.. Hawkins and
Mr.. WATERBURY, vcra there. 1t also
meant that whom Miss Kate saw the
Ferris wheel she was much taken with
it and expressed kc:' desire 10 make the
circuit and get view of the country
for miles around.
The rivalry had become desperate by
this time. Each rival felt that 4 crisis
was at hand. Each proposed to make
that circuit with Miss Kate aid to
have his fate settled before they had
left the car.
Now the law student showed his fine
Italian hand. He went to the owner of
the wheel and had very private con-
ve"sation. Later on he borrowed $40
and passed the bills over to the man.
The transaction had hardly been clos
ed when the literary editor Of the gaZ-
etteer appeared. He spent some ten
minutes watching the machinery oper-
ating the wheel, and then he had 4
talk with the owner
There We're many winks and smiles,
and more money passed. It was after
the last trotting race that the rivals
and the girl they loved approached the
wheel. Each intended to make the cir
cult with Miss Kate and leave the
other on the ground. Each had also
planned that in case he got left the
fact should not give the other any ad-
vantage. On the contrary, it should be
bad for him. 1t can't be said that the
girl had an intuition, but this much is
certain-that in the crowd and crush
around the car she so managed that
Mr.. Hawkins had as a partner q very
| fat woman whose husband was a nerv-
Gus little man who dared not make the
trip, while Mr.. WATERBURY found lit
tie later that his companion was an old
maid of forty or more who wanted to
| fall in love-
The rivals were thirty feet high when
| they discovered the miXup, and there
was nothing to do but go onward and
upward. Miss Kate smiled and waved
| hand at them, but that only in
creased the pain. The owner of the
| wheel had been closely watching
things, but after half a minute he
shook his head and muttered:
Hanged if l know what to do. l
have forgotten which l was to keep
up there. They have gone and mixed
themselves up, and 1 guess the best
thing l can do is to stop the old ma
chine right now
The odd machine" had made only Il
half circuit Mr. Hawkins and his fat
woman and Mr.. WATERBURY and his
old maid were right at the top when
something went wrong with the ma
chinery, and the motion ceased. After
half minute there We're loud demands
10 know what mad happened. The
wheel man told them as we'll as he
could. Some cog, lever, cam or ratchet
had given out, and it might be full
hour before that big wheel took up its
slow and stately movement again.
"Young man, this is a purity how-de
1ow exclaimed the fat woman when
the news was shouted aloft. Here
am up here half scared to death, and
down there is my Samuel almost in a
fit"
well, I'm not to blame for it," re-
piled Mr.. Hawkins
Il believe you are. l can see viii
lain written in every line on your face.
Lay as much as the tip of your finger
on me and I'll make you rue it to the
last day of your ife!'