The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1911-01-10

school was organized in Bayport II
was IN innovation for our village and
frowned upon by many of the older
and stricter inhabitants However
most Of the captains boy friends were
| permitted to attend. Young Cy was
not. His father considered dancing a
waste of time and. if not wicked. GER
tainly frivolous and nonsensica1. SO
the boy remained at home. But, in
/ spite of the parental order. he prac-
ticed some of the figures of the qua
/ drilles and the contradances in his
| comrades barns, learning them at sec
ond hand, SO to speak.
| One winter there was to be a party
\ in Orham given by the Nickersons.
wealthy people with a fifteen-year-old
daughter 1t was to be a grand af-
fair, and most of the boys and girls in
! the neighboring towns were invited.
Cy received an invita- ton and. for a
wonder, was permitted to attend. The
BaypOrt contingent went over in big
hayrick on runners, and the moonlight
ride was jolly enough. The Nickerson
mansion was crowded. and there were
music and dancing.
Young Cy was miserable during the
dancing. He didn't dare attempt it
in spite Of his lessons in the barn. So.
while the rest of his boy friends sought
partners for the Portland Fancy and
'Hulis Victory" he sat forlorn in a
corner.
As he sat there he was approached
by young lady radiant in muslin and
ribbons. She was three or four years
older than he was, and he had wor-
SHIPPED her from afar as she whirled
up and down the line in the Virginia
reel. She never lacked partners and
seemed to be a great favorite with the
young men, especially one good looking
chap with a sunburned face, who look
ed like a sailor.
They were forming sets for Money
Musk" It was ladies CHOICE" and
there was a demand for more couples.
The young lady came over to Cys cor
ner and laughingly dropped him a
courtesy.
eff you please" she said, Il want
partner. Will you do me the honor"'
Cy blushingly avowed that he could
not dance any to speak of.
"Oh, yes, you can. I'm sure you can
You're the Whitaker boy, aren't you?
I've heard about your barn lessons,
and / want you to try this with me-
LOT TIL
ing to the sunburned young fellow who
had followed her across the room,
this is my choice, and here is my
partner Susie Taylor is after you,
and you mustn't run away. Come, Mr..
Whitaker"
So Cy took her arm, and they danced
Money Musk together. He made
but few mistakes, and these she
helped him to correct 50 easily that
none noticed. His success gave him
courage, and he essayed other dances.
In fact, he had very good time at the
party after all.
On the way home he thought great
deal about the prettyyoung lady, whose
name he discovered was Emily Rich
ards. He decided that if she would
only wait for him he might like to
marry her when he grew up. But he
was thirteen, and she was seventeen,
and the very next year she married
John Thayer, the sailor in the blue
suit. And two years after that young
Cy ran away to be sailor himself
IN 70 of II hi
of battering about the world, Captain
Cy had sentimental streak in his
makeup. His regeneration of the old
home proved that. Betsy's letter in
terested him. He had made guarded
inquiries concerning Mary Thayer,
now Mary Thomas, of others besides
Asaph and the answers had been sat
isfactory so far as they went. Those
who remembered her had liked her
very much. The captain had even
begun letter to Mrs. Thomas, but
laid it aside unfinished, having since
Bailey's unfortunate experience with
the widow Beasley a prejudice against
experiments
He meditated and smoked for an
other hour. Then, his mind being
made up, he pulled down the desk lid
of the old fashioned secretary, resur-
rected from pile Of papers the note
he had begun to Mrs Thomas, dipped
a suffering pen into the ink bottle
and proceeded to write.
His letter was short one and rather
noncommittal. AS Mrs. Thomas no
doubt knew, he had come back to live
in his fathers house at Bayport. He
might possibly need some one to keep
house for him. He understood that she.
Mary Thayer that was, was a good
housekeeper and that she was open
to an engagement if everything was
mutually satisfactory. He had known
her mother slightly when the latter
lived in Orham. He thought an inter
view might be pleasant, for they could
talk over old times if nothing more.
Perhaps, on the whole, she might care