El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-26
Dorothy Dir ON h vs5 they
THE MAN WHO WAS AFRAID TO BREAK AWAY.

UT HE real reason that 1 mar
ried," said the first man, was
because l was a coward. 1
was afraid of girls tears.
This is an ungallant and caddish
thing to say, but this is confessional
in which we have all promised TO tell
the exact truth. That's my excuse.
Betty and 1 grew up in little town
together. She was the prettiest sort of
a village maiden with rosy cheeks, and
crisp curling brown hair. and a saucy
way of talking that captured my
youthful fancy.
Il used to pack ner books 10 and
from school. and spend my pocket
change on caramels and chewing gum
for her, and there grew up a really
strong attachment between us that, in
my youthful ignorance, 1 supposed was
love
After l quit school 1 went into the
village bank, and 1 still beaued Betty
around to church and the church sup
pers and parties but everything was
in statu quo. so to speak. There was
10 engagement between US, but 1 sup
pose both of us mad a vague idea that
we cherished a deathless passion for
each other and that some day we
would get married.
The Crisis.
Then came an offer to me of an as
sistant cashiership in a big bank in
the city, and that. curiously enough.
had the effect of precipitating a crisis
in my emotional as well as business
life, for it was on the strength of the
sentiment aroused in me at the thought
of leaving my old home. my old friends
and my family that made me make my
fatal matrimonial mistake.
Il remember it all as if it had hap
pened only yesterday. / was ambitious.
and 1 was elated over the prospect of
success that had suddenly opened up
before me. l had that curious thrill,
that sense OF power, that comes to a
man when he feels in MS hand the
weapon that he knows he has the skill
and strength to use and knows that
at last he has really begun to fight
his battle. and that the victory is sure.
L was glad to go. and yet my heart
overflowed with tenderness for all that
l was leaving behind. My mother and
father, my sisters and my brothers had
never seemed so dear. The old home
had never seemed such a nest as it did
when 1 was leaving it. People whom
1 had laughed at became suddenly in
teresting and picturesque, and those I
had loved seemed inexpressibly near
to me-
The Proposal.
I'm this exalted frame of mind
went to a farewell party that my old
girl and boy chums gave me- Betty
was there looking like a peach in q
pink muslin. We danced much to-
gether. and at last we strolled out into
the moonlight. and with music pulsing
on the air and my own blood racing
like fire through my veins, l asked ner
to be my wife-to wait for me until L
could make my fortune and come back
for her.
TT was a moment of emotional in
sanity, but in it 1 settled my fate. and
1 went away. a boy Of 20-bound, fet-
tered. with halter about my neck.
"Of course, 1 didn't realize what I
had done 1 honestly thought myself
very much in love with Betty, and kept
her photograph on my dressing table.
and wrote her long letters in which 1
told her how I was counting the hours
until 1 could come back to her. That
was for the first few months
Then I began to get acquainted in
the city My family had good city
connections. and II was not long be-
fore 1 was being asked about. and
meeting city girls, beautiful. cultured.
clever, gracious; and older women, wo-
men who had touched life at many
points, and who were wise and tolcr-
ant, and broad.
Il had not known that there w"re
such women, and my very soul leaped
to meet them. Theirs was the cont
anicns hip of which I had vaguely
dreamed as the most delightful thing
on earth.
THAT summer 1 went back home to