Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-19
BOWDOIN'S PROPOSAL
By John Hendricks Bangs
Drawing by T. X. Hanna

liver since Harley Bowdoin's eyes had first.
IT. rested upon her silken locks, all tinged with
gold; her wondrous eyes, as deep as the sea,
as blue the skies, smiling summer day; her
cheek, than which tinted tea rose could ever hope
to be more decately pink; her lips, alongside of
which the cherrvs self seemed but pad specter of
blushing beauty ,-ever since Harley Bowdoins eyes
had rested upon this lovely catalogue of joyous
things, and had come to know that with them all
also disposition as fair the most gracious
day of spring all thoughts of other things fled from
his brain. Awake asleep, it was all the same. The
face. the FORM the exquisitely melodous voice, the
elusive charm of her rare presence, confronted him
at every turn. adding much no doubt to the beauty
of the prospect, but seriously interfering with bust
ness
The law is at best arduous proession but
when one has to untangle knottv problems requiring
the most intense concentration of mind. it par
lous business to have fragile thing girl
constantly intruding her charms upon the line of
argument She deras the train of thought throws
the engine of reasoning off the track and switches
the freight of logical conclusion from the main
line off the sdetracks of irrelevanCe, to end in
a chaotic mass of wreckage in the bitches of sheer
futitv.
For his clients sake if not for his own, something
had to be done. and, as Harley went the situa
ton from start to nsh coming the pros and pressing
the cons, he very that there were only
two ways to get the young woman out of his mind.
The first was to assure himself that she could by no
possibility be his. The second was to secure posi-
tive acceptance of the fact that she much his
that none other could ever hope to win her. Obvi-
ously the only way do either of these things was
to propose her and let her settle the question be-
yond all peradventure and for all time.
1t would never do to repeat last nights perform
ance, for instance, when after Colonel Wloughby,
the Chocolate Magnate had spent four hours of his
time, every minute worth the weight of his watch in
radium, acquainting him with his desires to the
methods to be employed in the formation of the
United States Cocoa Company. he had scarcely
heard word of the Colonel's Instructions because
his mind was too fully occupied with thoughts of
Marie to take in anything else.
HERE he was at his desk this morning supposed to
"A be engaged in the preparation of papers upon
the proper execution of which hung millions of pros
pective profits. and not notion in his mind beyond
the simple realization of the fact that Mares eyes
the whole even bluer than the heavens and
that man had ever lived from the original harpist
down to Mr.. Debussy himself who was quite capable
of reducing the rare music OF her voice to numbers
Undoubtedly this matter of the maid must be set
tied. Harley Bowdoin's law practice would go to
the demntion bow-wows
Then too, there another consideration that
made the question all the more pressing. This grew
solely out of the advanced state Of the calendar and
the longngs that surged in his heart at this
of the he nightly betook himself his lonely
bachelor apartment. What place indeed has bach
elor who is not even an uncle in the glad joys of
Christmastide: Here Harley surrounded on all
sides by bustng hustling throng of bundle bearers
making their way homeward to hearthstones where
fires burned brightly and little faces beamed in JOY
anticipation of good things to come but he,
with great capacity for peace and good will to men,
he aloof from all this tasting the miseries of
Tantalus athirst but with the grateful waters be-
yond the reach of his parched lips.
lhere was noDodE awaiting ms nome coming with
expectant bliss uming their faces, unless count
few calboys. and janitor, and Mkt his Japanese
valet, and as he looked upon the sweets that had
to these Others he realized that life held much
in the way of happiness that not for such he.
No is a Santa Claus to his valet and even with
its many comforts his apartment struck him as
vain sort of substitute for home Surely the situa-
ton rendered intolerable by all this gladstone
festivty going all about him. and must be RENE
died at once.
RUT how to remedy it became the question.