The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-10-13

years ago, partners. ana uiSdSl eeAASiA
had crept in, as disagreements VIII
creep in among the best of partners
When the disagreements crept IN the
mariners fell out, and there was an end
of the partnership. Stephen Oxenham
and Jacob Preside went their separate
business ways. But there had been
litigation added to the disagreements,
which stephen had lost, and, combined,
the whole process of falling out had
made for bad blood. Blood remained
bad in the years that succeeded. Both
men lived in the same district; both
had their interests centered in the
making of blankets, and both competed
in the same market. Both watched
each other closely. When Preside got
the better of business deal, Oxen
ham put it down to his old partner 3
duplicity. When Oxenham scored,
Freeside ascribed the lowest motives
to his rival. AS a matter of fact, both
men were decent, strenuous and enter
prising, and both succeeded singly just
as they had succeeded together And
as the years went by, their dislike and
distrust of each other grew into some
thing like hatred, and neither could see
the slightest trace of good in anything
the other did.
In due course the men married. It
seemed natural that, as their lives had
been so similar, they should retain the
similarity in other matters. Stephen
Oxenham had only one child-a daugh-
ter. Jacob Preside had one child-a
son. Both were born in the same
month-June, and both parents were
duly elated, only the bitterness deep
- h.. -I,ar, ,rixr
proved to be the father of a male child
while he had to be content with a
daughter. Oxenham liked his rival
none the more because of this unto
ward incident
Naturally, when the children grew
up, seeing their parents dislike each
other so much, they fell in love. And,
apart from the quarrelsome eccen-
tricities of their parents, there was no
earthly reason why they shouldn't.
Kate Oxenham was in every way the
girl a man should love-gentle, grace
full and womanly; and Fred Preside
in his turn was as clean built, hand
some a sample of English manhood as
one would expect to find in the British
empire.
Fred proposed, with his usual elo-
quence, one bright May evening at the
house of a mutual friend, as they sat
out under the friendly trees bordering
a tennis court. She had listened
proudly, as women do to the right
man, and there had been but a brief
interval between the all-important
query and her softly whispered Yes"
And then they had Weakened from their
romance to the hard facts of the posi-
ton.
81 am afraid, darling" Fred said, at
length, everything will not be quite
smooth for US, You know; my father
hates yours like poison" !
ct know very well,' she replied. :
His dislike for my parent Is only ex-
ceded by the whole-hearted way In
which it is reciprocated.'
at do not think my governor could
possibly be convinced that any good
ever came out of an .Oxenham." !
'.I am certain that papa will never al .
low that good could possibly issue from !
a Preside" Kate returned.
'My father is really a capital chap,
you know" Fred went on-'or, rather,
when you know him. 1 am not quite
certain how you will get to know him.
Really, parents can be excessively
stupid
'.They cam" said Kate. eve devot-
ed all my life to rearing my parents,
and papa is quite amiable on every
point but one-your family"
Kate sighed.
well, after ALL said Fred. ''love will
show a way. They say it laughs at
locksmiths, so maybe we can smile at
our unbending parents"
Maybe Kate said.
cit will make no difference to you or
me- Fred added.
'N-no," agreed Kate.
you love me?" urged Fred.
YES she agreed.
''Then what do parents natter" he
asked, convincingly.
"what?" she echoed.
Kate found out when she mentioned
the matter nearest to her heart to
Stephen Oxenham the next morning.
They were breakfasting when she
preached the subject.
You know Fred Freeside?" she sug-
gested, tentatively.
'sKnow him?'' her father said, irrit-
ably-"young nincompoop!
'Papa!" she said, Fred isn't min
compoop."
BAH" snapped her father, and the
Times cracked in his grip.
Mr.. Oxenham folded the Times care
fully, put his chair back truculently.
and fixed his glasses at an aggressive
angle on his nose.
I'm so years il I'm a day., ne sa1d'
"I have known old Preside all my life
I knew his father. I know his son.
Fred is the child of three generations
of nincompoops."
Kate sighed audibly
Don't let me hear you mention
either of 'em,'' concluded Mr.. Oxen
ham.
But I must" she said, family.
''Why?" he asked.
Kate blushed and began-"Fred pro-
posed to"
She got no further Mr.. Oxenham
grew aIarmingly apoplectic. He tore
the Times in half and danced on the
fragments And he struggled for
breath and articulation. and hooked for
all the world as excited and perturbed