The Falls City tribune., 1911-02-03
Copyright. 1911, by American Press
Association.

aviation had come up in his day he
clouds to find others. When | made
his acquaintance he had settled down
in n place he called by n jawbreaking
name signifying dwelling" that he
had picked up among the Eskimos
or some other bcnighted people. 1t
was in the country situated on the top
of a hill and looked more like n Chi
nese pagoda than any other structure,
Sp%itzburger was a widower. with
n child. a daughter. She was TWEEN
ty years old and for half her life had
travelled during half of each year-the
summer season-with her father. He
redity and travel had made her as
She was of medium height. 1.-THE, wiry
indeed, a feminine athlete of the
featherweight type. Her hair was black
and straight as an Indian's; her eyes
large black ones, with lashes of the
Spanish type. | wondered if her moth
cl Hdu HUI DttH SOlllc uuSkN StIlltlN l.
lized creature her father had picked up
on the underside of the world. But
he told me his wife had been an Amer
lean creole.
The inside of the house in which
these two lived was as curious as the
outside. The furniture and ornamen-
tai articles had apparently been gath
cred from all points of the globe. rang
ing from the south sea islands to
Greenland. There was a mill for
grinding from the Holy Land similar
to those used in Bible times, a wheel
from India TO spin flax on, and the
bathtub had been the sarcophagus of
an Egyptian mummy.
The reason for my making the SpitZ-
burgers acquaintance was this: was
taking a postgraduate course at the
time. studying the customs of differ
ent races of men. the causes and eff
fects which shape them and their re-
%lationship. Desiring some informa-
ton as to the people of Tibet, a land
forbidden to foreigners and therefore
little known. | was recommended to
~Spitzburger as n who had penetrat-
ed to the interior of that country. |
went to see him, and my visit led to
my studying with him.
How long | remained there doesn't
matter, but it was sufficient for my
enthra llment by that 'little savage"
as l called his daughter, Irene. Not
that there was any outward intima.
ton on my part that | was coming I'M
der a spell, and, as for the girl. | had
no idea that | was any more to her
than anotf er man. Indeed. | some
times fancied that she might have left
her heart in New Zealand, Kamchatka
OF some other barbarous land. Wheth-
err S~pitzburger suspected the drift of
my inclinations | don't know, but one
day he took occasion TO mention with
appreciation the marriage customs in
Lapland. where one who marries a
girl without her parents consent is
adjudged guilty of a crime next below
murder and is punished accordingly.
l thought that he looked at me very
hard, but "a guilty conscience needs
no %accuser,'' and i may have attached
more meaning to his words than they
covered.
The only thing to indicate that Irene
and l were drifting together as lovers
was that we took long walks together.
| made an excuse for this that in her
company | could both exercise and
rt,,Iv UbiS xyac tr1a nni1ld nat
from her certain information of the
domestic habits Of the people she had
visited that | could not get from her
father. One day while we were on
one of these walks ! said to her:
your father tells me hat in Lap
land to marry a girl without her par
ents' consent is punished as a crime.
Please tell me how a man in that coun-
try does his counting"
HE doesn't do any counting"
''Then how does he ~proceed?"
HE goes to her parents and asks
for her. If he is refused there is no
hope for him. If they approve of his
suit they tell the girl of it. She may
or may not have seen the lover, but
the process is the same in either case.
Her parents give a feast at which
they. the girl. her sutton and mutual
friends are present. The two princi-
pals are placed opposite each other at
table. where they can observe and
talk with each other all they like"
well then what? | suppose the
girl has something to say in tive mat
ter, else this looking over her suitor
would be useless"
Eyes, she has a good deal to say
about it. but she doesn't yet make it
known. She indicates her decision
later. After the feast all go to IN open
space suitable for running a race. A
course is marked of-a quarter of a
mile usdally-and the girl is given a
handicap of a third of the distance.
The handicap is intended to enable her
to win the race easily If she wishes.
and If she wins that indicates her re-
fusal of the offer. But If. on the con
trary. she purposely lags and her suitor
catches her. that indicates she accepts