Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1911-12-14
A MOCK
MARRIAGE
By r. D. CHATSWORTH
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

first tinge Of ennui at his bachelor
hood. The first freshness of youth
has gone out Of him, and a vision of
a home enlivened by wife and chill
dren looms up before him.
Walter Nixon had reached this age,
or, rather, in his case, it was standing
between the period of thOughtless
youth and thoughtful middle age. One
day he was skylarking with lot of
young men and women when some
one proposed that they should have
mock wedding.
"I'll be the bride" said Jaqualine
Woodruff, II girl who was always first
and foremost in any pran&
"And III be the groom" said Walter
calamity since he was standing be
side her at the moment and all eyes
were turned upon him.
Few young people realize that it Is
dangerous to trilIe with a wedding,
but it Is.
SO Walter Nixon and Jaqueline Wood
ruff stood up. one Of the young men
Of the party asked if they would take
each other for husband and wife
Walter took a seal ring off his finger
and put it on that Of Jaqueine, the
man who was officiating pronounced
them man and wife, and, amid many
jokes and much laughter, they re
ceived congratulations from the others.
No one considered ii anything more
than an cscapade, and when new
amusement was proposed the specta
tors forgot all about the first.
A few days later Miss Woodruff, on
opening her mail, read n note from
Walter Nixon, beginning My dear
wife" 1t contained an invitation to
the thcater and several facetious re-
remarks as to her duty toward the
writer as her husband. II was all
very funny, and somehow it sounded
rather pleasant. She was Of mar
age and since she WAS TWEEN
ty-two years old thought it high time
she should be married, Nixon was Il
good fellow, able to support wife
and generally acceptable. Jaqueline
did not know how much of joke and
how much of earnest there was in his
letter, but she felt ut liberty to reply
in kind SO she began her letter ''My
dear husband" and signed 1t "Your
loving wife"
Soon after this Nixon was telling
Cummings, lawyer friend, about
1.-The joke" rs he called it. Cummings
looked trifc serious, whereupon
Nixon asked him If he thought any
thing OF import could come of it.
1.-The lady" replied the lawyer, 'if
she were disposed to claim you as her
husband, might make it very unpleas-
ant for YOU
"You don't mean it!' exclaimed
Nixon.
"You have addressed her as My dear
wife which Is pretty good evidence
In law that you have married her.
Suppose she says she considered the
contract. What are you
going to do about it with your letter
in her hands,"
by Jove. | never thought of that.
What shall | doW
"The only thing you can do is to get
your letter and destroy it,"
I'm do 1t ut once"
That evening Nixon called on Miss
Woodruff for the express purpose of
returning her letter and getting pos
session of his own. She was in
very becoming costume and smiled on
him PLEASANTLY
'I'm glad you've come, dear she
said, with II twinkle in her eye. 1--WE
been in an agony for fear You had
met with some accident. How could
You remain SO long away from mcT
How pleasant that sounded! Though
the words were in fun, he thought he
would like to hear more of their kind.
lie would keep up the pleasantly Tor
awhile before mentioning the matter
Of the exchange of letters, SO he said
to her that he considered
proper for husband to say to Il Wife.
that II WAS more appropriate
for lover and ii was all So funny
that they kept it up for some time.
Before departing he said:
My friend Cummings says that II
YOU really choose to claim mel mean
Il really choose to claim YOU for my
wife-I might put you to Il lot of trou-
BILE"
what troublef"
"Wen, might insist that our mar
riaGe was serious"
"Wel?"
And YOU might He stopped.
"put You to n lot of trouble" She
looked down on the floor. apparently
much panied.
mot that. You might
might what?"
Her voice trembled little.
"Oh. | can't get II out. Don't feel
hurt l didn't mean to say anything l
should he sorry for-that Is, nothing
You should be sorry to hear. I'm aw-
fully ashamed. There's nothing to cry
about"
There seemed To he an irresistible at