The Newport miner. [volume] (Newport, Wash.) 1899-current, 1909-10-14
Spelling A ROMANCE
Rx MI. QUAD.

! She had cooked and washed anu UdAeu
and put up pickles and made her own
I dresses and seemed content. Even
when Zed Green, hired man to her ia
Their. had fallen in love with her and
asked her to be his'n she had success,
fully concealed any evidence that II
was other than the humdrum program
Of existence and had replied that she
guessed she would have him, and that
settled the matter for awhile. Zed
didn't want to marry for year or
! two. and Hattie was content. At least
no one suspected her of discomfort
and yet romance was fairly bubbl1ng
| in her SOUL She wanted to be abduct-
ed; she wanted to elope; she wanted
to be lost in the sugar bush and found
by a cavalier.
She kept hoping and expecting and
sewing carpet rags and helping her
mother make picked lily, and time ran
on. and one evening Zed announced
that he was ready to marry. Then an
| idea came to her like a flash of light
ming. and after turning it over in her
mind for five minutes she answered:
'Zed, 1 will never, never marry you
unless we have some romance about
| it,
"Do you mean going to the circus or
something of that kind?'. he asked.
mo, I don't. l mean that 1 don't
propose to stand up in the parlor and
be married by justice of the peace"
all hot n oT1fS
81 want to run away to get mar
ried"
''Shoo! l don't see the need of that
when everybody's willing"
''But I do. l want folks to have
something to talk about, and I want
something to think of afterward."
I'm willing to do all l can, Hattie
Seems kinder foolish to me, but if you
look at it 'tother way it's all right.
It's to be what they call an elopement,
eh?"
eyes"
Gail right. I never eloped, but I
guess We can manage it somehow.
This is Thursday. Shall we bring it
off next Tuesday night?"
The date suited the young woman,
and next morning both got up to act
rather queerly. They were absent
minded and preoccupied and had so
little ue say to each other that before
the day was over Mrs. Cowper said to
her husband:
Henry, Pm afraid Hattie is coming
down with some sickness or other, or
else she's got some awful thing on her
mind. I have never seen her SO quiet.
Once she put her arms around me and
asked me to forgive her, and when I
asked for what she ran away. What
dye 'spose ails her?''
Cant tell, but Zeke has also been
acting up and astonishing me. This
afternoon as we was hoeing corn side
and SIDE he suddenly stopped and look
ed at me and almost shouted: No; I
will not give her up! will defy you
to the endr When I asked him what
be meant by such burned nonsense he
actually chanked his teeth
1t was that romance was bubbling,
and by the following Tuesday Zed had
made himself believe that stern IA
Their had stepped between him and the
object of his love and would brutally
blast his future, and Hattie composed
a note to be left behind for her moth
er asking forgiveness and saying that
it almost broke her heart to do the
thing contemplated.
The farmers bedtime was 9 o'clock
BY 10 he and his good wife were snor-
ing. Even the cat slept. Not so with
Hattie and Zed however. The young
woman sat in her room, dressed for
the elopement and feeling thrills of ro-
nance, and Zed had made a sneak for
the barn to hitch up a horse and
wagon.
At II o'clock the rig was driven to
the front gate, and Zed jumped down
and hid beside the rosebush. Three
minutes later Hattie was with him.
There were whispers and hand
squeezes, and the elopement had start
ed 1t had progressed just forty rods
when there came a fash of lightning.
At fifty rods the thunder beloved.
At a hundred the rain began to fall.
Zed had been crafty, but he hadn't no
ticed the gathering storm. Romance
and soaking shower do not go well
together, but there must be no turning
back. There was an old open shed in
a field a mile away, and as the rain
began to fall Zed put on the CAD to
reach it's shelter. The old horse fell
down three times and had to be helped
up again each time before the shed
was reached, but they drove under it
at last. Just as they did so a flash of
lightning showed an old bull at the
rear end. He had also got in out of
the wet, and, being the first conner, he
naturally resented any intrusion. He
got up and began to paw and paw and
below, and when the brave lover got
down to shoe him forth he charged
the wagon and broke one wheel off
and scattered the horse around This
brought about a pretty plain converse
ton between Hattie and Zed.
"Zed Green. I'm going home" finally
declared the girl You are the biggest
fool on earth. and nothing could in
duce me to marry your