Willmar tribune., 1909-09-01
CUPID At SORRENTO,
BY T. A. mitchell.

ciation.]
II will tell you." said the archaeol-
ogist. why the ancients represented
love by little boy. There is no liv
ing being SO dclicately organized. You
may say a girl Is more so: but, grant
ing that you are right, the female Is
not supposed to be the aggressor in
love. 1t Is the male who makes the
advance and is rightly represented by
the boy who shoots the arrow.
THE young spring together like two
opposite electric currents. though even
in this case Cupid sends the shaft
shooting Mt random. 1t is only when
he fires at older people that it Is es-
sential that he carefully adjust and
fire it with delicate aim. l have q
case in my mind.
"A few years ago l was planning for
trip to Europe. A man going abroad
is not likely to trouble himself as to
the hostelries at which he will stop.
but a woman before sailing writes to
all her friends who have travelled her
proposed route, inQuiring for the most
desirable boarding places and making a
long list of them from their replies.
My wife wrote her crOnieS, among 9th
an admiral in the United States navy,
and asked me to write my old chum,
General PoindeXter. a retired army Of
ticer. who had Il horror Of ever being
led into what lie called matrimonial
guardhouse.' Both recommended very
highly the Hotel C. ut Sorrento, Italy.
Nov, we archaeologists are accus-
toned to look for relationships among
the remotest buried antiquities. For
instance. when we find a fish painted
on an Italian urn Of the first century
we know that it belonged to a Chris
tian. No sooner did l read the rec
concentrations of the Hotel G. at SOr-
rento, written by both the general and
the widow, than l formed an infer
ence.
"'It is situated,' said the widow. in
an orange grove, hundreds OF the mel
low fruit on every tree. \ few steps
from the house is a marble terrace on
the edge Of a cliff overlooking the bay
Of Naples. Below is the water. light
blue or pale green; to the north the
hazy isle of Capri. to the west the cone
Of Vesuvius. emitting faint smoke.
which mingles with the tleecy clouds
hanging over its summit
"I was impressed said the general,
with the strength of the position from
military point Of view. From the sum
NIT Of the cliff shells could he dropped
on the decks Of besieging war fleet,
the only part left unprotected. AS I
stood on the terrace overlooking the
bay l felt that If l were there COM
manding the towns defense l could
sink the allied fleets of the world
ITO one used to hunting for records
written in a bit of broken pottery, a
mosaic picture or 4 heathen god It was
an easy matter to trace in the valor
excited In the man and the overflow of
ideality In the woman the fact that
they had sat on that balustrade to-
under the influence of the queen of
the night-and that as she caused the
tides to ebb and flow so had she
drawn their hearts to pulsate In uni
son.
"Since neither the general nor the
widow was 4 fixture, my wife invited
the former to go with us on Il Mediter-
ranean trip to Naples. and I wrote the
former, who was in Paris, to meet us
at the Hotel G. at Sorrento. The wild
oW was only too glad to attach her
self to our party, and the general
agreed to be in Sorrento at specified
date.
I'VE reached Sorrento on one OF
those afternoons when the heavens
and the Mediterranean look down and
up at each other like the blue eyed an
gels. The widow took us out ON the
terrace to show us the view. She was
as enthusiastic as she had been In hel
written description. but her eye was
sad. In the evening the moon shone
and the general, arriving as the orb
was chasing the twilight, must needs
take me to his imaginary fOrtifcation
was not surprised to see on his face
look of disappointment The posi-
tion,' he said, doesn't look as strong
as it did. There IS something wantin:
in defensive point Of view, and !
can't tell what it is
"At that moment there were sounds
--------------------------