The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-11-07

y NEEDN'T KEEP ON SETTIN THERE.
It. 1.-THE hull population" So disagree
able did he make the transit for the
islanders that In summer when they
could pass up and down by water, they
used boats. but in winter. when the
weather was cold and blustery. they
were obliged to choose between old
Boreas and old Perks
The consequence Of this disagree
ableness OF the farmer was a unani-
NOUS unpopularity. But his neighbors
were prevented from showing their dis
like, first, because he had the power
to make their lot more uncomfortable
by denying them a passageway and,
secondly, because he had daughter
who. being the very antipodes of her
father, they all loved Lena Perks
was the most obliging creature in the
world. Most girls. knowing as she did
that her father was hated, would have
drawn within themselves and endured
the obliquy III seclusion. Lena ignored
the fact entirely. She never lost an
opportunity TO do any one a favor,
never looked sour. Indeed, she always
wore smile. Some said that she was
endeavoring to counterbalance her
fathers unpopularity. But, however
much she might have desired to do
this, it would have been impossible for
her to affect a disposition that was
not natural. The popularity Of polite
persons is only skin deep.
Only one person on the island show
ed his condemnation Of Mr.. Perks to
Mr.. Perks himself. and that was Dan
lei Dobson. and by singular fatality
Dobson's son. Peter, and Lena Perks
must needs fall In love with each
other. The affair went on for some
time without Mr.. Perks suspecting it.
Not that his daughter concealed it from
him. Indeed. she was scarcely con-
scious of 1t herself 1t is questionable
If any couple can fix upon a point at
which they have ceased to be friends
and became lovers. At any rate, those
who observed Peter and Lena were
aware that they were lovers long be-
fore they were aware of it themselves
One Of these. a spinster Of forty five.
revealed the fact to old Perks, and 1t
was the outburst occasioned by the
information that revealed 1t to the low
ers themselves.
Lena was not so well fitted to breast
@ sudden storm such as the revelation
called forth in her father as she was
to endure the steady noxious wind that
had been blowing ever since she could
remember. She made feeble attempt
to give up Peter She told him he must
not come to see her any more; she
could not write to him or meet him.
and all that. But it wasn't long before
everybody on the island knew of the
situation. Peter Dobson was a manly
young fellow, given, like his father, to
an impolitic expression of his detesta-
lion for meanness and wrong. This
made him few enemies, but a number
Of friends.
Nature was too strong in Lena to
permit the giving up lover to please
her father and she suddenly developed
q flial rebellion. She told her father
that since there was no reason why
sne snould not marry Peter she would
marry him, whereupon the old man
vowed she should do no such thing.
The result was that he shut her up in
her room, turned the key on her and
told her that she should not come out
TIL she had promised to give up Peter.
Lena was made prisoner In the au-
tumn, and when winter came she was
still a prisoner. She had no means Of
communicating with any one outside
Of her fathers house; consequently
nothing definite was known about her.
even by her lover.
The winter proved more severe than
any that had been experienced in that
region for years. A storm. first Of
wind, then Of sleet. then Of snow, beat
down upon the bay. and after the wind
had got the water in as bad state as
possible Jack Frost followed and
stereotyped it. In other words, he
froze 1t hard.
The coast was thrown into dire con-
fusion The water on either side of
the island was frozen In such lumpy
condition with hillocks Of ice and deep
drifts Of snow as to render it impas-
sable. A ridge ran lengthways on the
island where the snow could not effect
q Judgment since the wind blew 1t
away. The consequence was that, al
though there was no passage open by
water, the road by land had not been
blocked.
It was during this time that Lena
made an escape. How she managed 1t
no one knew; at any rate. no one told.
probably because either her mother or
some other member Of the family as
sisted her, and 1t was desirable that
whoever it was should escape the old
mans wrath. Unfortunately for Lena.
the way open to her lay toward the
south. while her lover was north Of her