The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-11-29
her inspection she made me this propo.

Ter inspection she made me this propo- 4
sition:
"She would take me, and for two !:
years she would dress me up in the II
proper finery and exhibit me in the
market, and give me
chance to make a good match; but, II
at the end of that time / had not
made good, back home I went to my
old poverty, like Cinderella when the
clock struck twelve.
"Oh, of course, the matter wasn't
put quite that brutally, but that was
exactly what the terms meant, and !
accepted them with leaps of joy.
What girl of IS, who has never had
anything but near-silk dress, and imi-
tation lace, wouldn't? Besides, 1t left |
one less to clothe, and one less to
feed at home, and l knew | was lift
ing the family burden by just that
much.
| well, thanks to Cousin Sarah's
good clothes, | was success in so
ciety from the day Of the gorgeous de-
but party she gave me. | had hordes
of admirers, and before the first seas
on was out the Good Chance OF my
mothers petitions and Cousin Sarah's
diplomacy doomed upon the horizon.
HE was banker; very rich; also,
he was a widower, and double my age;
and stout; and bald-headed; but he
was a gentleman and intelligent. and
refined, and very good and kind. And
HE had diamonds and automobiles,
had town and country houses to be-
stow upon his bride.
Personally, am not mercenary,
and if l had been left to myself-well,
l wasn't left to myself, and so GER
tain slim young fellow with dark eyes
and a way with him, and little two
by-four fat were never anything to
me but the vision of what might have
been. | knew they couldn't be for me.
| knew | had to marry rich for the
sake of the folks at home, and so |
put my dreams and romances away
in lavender and said yes very CRATE
fully when my elderly sutton asked nae
to marry him.
at didn't seem to me that | had any
choice in the matter When | lay
awake at night trying to decide what
I should do, could see poor old Dad
growing older and older, always sitting
where he so little belonged. l could
: see Mothers tired, worn face and her
pitiful hands, so rough and hard with
work. I could see Susie and Mamie
: waiting with breathless eagerness fol
the doors that could open for them
I could see Jennie longing for the
3 teaching that would set her beautiful
u voice free. l could hear poor little
Maud's cough-the cough that needed
l. Injuries that she could never have ex
9 cept for me, to cure.
"And / could see Cousin Sarah''
stern accusing eyes, asking me if
u was going to default and not make thu
T. return that she expected me to maxi
y for all that she had done for me.
u And it wasn't as if l had been reall!
in love with some one else, The slim
d young man, with the way with him
II stood only as the symbol of the unat
lie tainable romance that was not for me
at and so 1 married my banker, and w
of have lived together in a peace an
: harmony that is the admiration of GU
friends.
Il have made him happy, for l hav
been SO afraid that wouldn't do m
:. duty as a wife, because ! was not il
u spired by any great love, and l hav
- been so grateful to him for his kline
= ness to my people that I have waite
on his every within as much as tn
: most devoted wife could. AS for m.
self-well, if l have missed the be.
thing in life, l have had the secon
best, which isn't such a bad average
dorothy Dix.