Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-07-05
THE EVENING STORY.
GOLDFISH AND CUPID.
BY STACY e. BAKER.

airy Press.
When Robert Hamiltons uncle
died the young man inherited seven
Goldfish and q spacious tank Tor the
same, along with several volumes on
fish culture, To cheer the despond-
ent Robert, 100000 accompanied this
eccentric gift. all to be his own II, ne
abided by several conditions-easy
conditions.
Ezra Dodderman had won the be-
ginning OF his fortune as the captain
Of a fishing smack of the coast OF
New England, and his sentiment for
his dull-eyed pets, while freakish,
was commendable.
A goldfish could not be called fr1v-
olous. All it asks Is plenty to eat
and a bit Of brine wherein occasional
ly to move an indolent fin. Ezra
Doddernan's seven bewhiskered
emulsion makers, while parlor cod,
were no exception to the general
rule. Ezra wouldn't have thought OF
keeping their huge tank-home In any
other room in his modest domicile.
The parlor for his finny ones!
Hadn't their kind established the
moneyed house Of Dodderman? Moth
Ing should be too good for them. He
gave them fresh sea water twelve
times day.
The $4,000 that came to Hamilton
was accompanied by the command
that the pets Of the departed be given
all the comforts OF home: namely, a
conspicuous place in the parlor and
twelve changes OF sea water each
day. Failure to make good In any Of
these conditions would result IN a
withdrawal Of the coin, and another
intimate acquaintance with the book
keepers high stool for the lanky
side-whiskered Robert.
Hamilton was Of the young-old type
that is often found in clerkly capa-
cities in business institutions. HIS
life was clerklike, methodical. He
went to work at certain hour and
did everything as he had done 1t each
day during his connection with Cleg-
to & Clogg. He lunched at certain
hour and returned to his home at 4
certain hour! Life with Robert Ham
ilton was a system. Uncle Ezra had
put an end to this system.
Hamilton was Mortified when the
Breezeville lawyer cited the condi-
lions attached to the acceptance of
his uncle's legacy. The attorney. in
turn, was Mortified when the book
keeper refused to consider them. Il
took seven days Of picturesque elo-
uuence to bring the unimaginative
plodder around.
Hamilton was not married. His
scaled wards were moved into his
humble cottage in the night. The
bookkeeper was ashamed of them.
His housekeeper, an aged dame, who
had been sworn by the youth to keep
closed lips as to the presence of the
tank and its inmates. snorted disgust
eddy as she stared through the thick
glass Of the aquarium into the ex-
pressionless eyes Of the slothful sea-
parasites. Thence onA tank Of water
arrived each week from Boston.
Fortunately, Hamilton's little cot
tage was near the tracks and at very
little expense he had spur thrown
into his back yard People were curl
GUS about the importation. Some
thought Robert had discovered oil in
the fish.
Hamilton. long since drifted into
rut, would have kept to his job at
the Clegton- Clogg books willingly.
This was made impossible by the Inn
,perative clause in the will demand
ing twelve changes of water for the
fish. The antiauated slavey refused
to deliver over the green stun from
the eastern coast to the parlorites.
1t was necessary for Hamilton to at
tend to it himself.
Hamilton always dressed In black.
He wore stiff, white shirts and white
ties. His modest garb and reddish
sideburns lent him a ministerial dig
nifty, and this was even as 1t should
be, for Robert was model young
man. He did not indulge in tobacco,
liquor or expressive expletives. And
yet there are flaws in all good timber.
Hamilton had one dissipation. Her
name was Annabelle Lea.
Annabelle Lea was q rabbit-faced
damsel who, despite her omnipresent
expression Of meekness, had most
resolute will OF her own. She had
known Robert all her life. They ca
pered in the same exclusive society.
For three years the bookkeeper had
paid Annabelle assiduous attention.
She believed he intended to marry
her, and her ladylike heart pit-a-
patted at his very approach. She
kept her determined spirit in the
background.
Robert, however, was, at this par
tioular period, far too busy with cod
fish to bother about girls.
No one in the village knew Of the
Youths inherited 100000; no more,
in fact, of this than they did of his
parlor boarders. Therefore, their
various bumps of rustic curiosity
throbbed when Hamilton resigned his
position and stuck clannishly to his
cottage, save on prayer meeting
nights and Sabbath mornings.
All of this precluded the ambitious
Annabelle from the Goldfish secret
eating out the heart OF the man she
intended to marry After several
weeks she doffed her maidenly diff
dence and called.
Robert was at home. He was always
at home. He invited the lady into his
sitting room. Heretofore, on previous
calls, Annabelle had been ushered into
the parlor In this failure to comply
with an ethical condition long estab-
1ished Annahe11e halieved that she