Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1911-03-16

which 1 was graduated. had been for
warded, and the date stamped on It
was just twelve years before. 1t had
been addressed to me at the college
and forwarded. The handwriting was
that Of a lady, but unfamiliar to me.
l opened it without any thought
whatever as to who had written it;
but, looking first at the signature, 1 saw
it was Leona Whitney. 1t was a reply
to my proposal of marriage.
1t is singular to be transported by
some incident backward in time. Hold
ing that letter in my hand, / was again
a youngster Of twenty, in love with a
woman l considered far above me.
Then it occurred to me that Miss
Whitney must now be within a few
years of forty, while l was thirty-two,
and old at that.
While these thoughts We're flashing
through me l began to read the letter.
1t told me that the lady had been
touched at the expression Of the ten
der feelings l had avowed for her and
considered my proposal, to say the
least, an honor. But there were rea-
sons why she should hesitate. While
l was far more matured than most
men of my age, it must be remembered
that in ten or a dozen years 1 would
still be a young man, while she would
be past middle age. She confessed
that this was her only reason for not
returning a favorable reply to my pro-
posal. She suggested that I was Just
at the beginning Of my career and if
as time passed l felt the same she
would be pleased to hear from me
again.
While 1 was reading this letter l was
sensible Of having passed from my
youth to that period where q man be-
gins to feel that young girls consider
him old. 1 had been much flattered
that my recent attentions to a girl of
eighteen had been looked upon with
favor. 1 had taken her out a number
Of times and persuaded myself that
the tender passion was stealing into
my aging breast. But l was not and
new had been anything of a butter
fly. l was and always had been q
serious man. l found it somewhat
irksome to go about as an escort to q
young girl to amusements in which I
fore l received the epistle from a
distant past 1 had attended my little
girl to a ball where she had kept me
for ".just on more dance till 3 o'clock
in the morning.
1t is not strange that 1 was affected
by Miss Whitney's reply to a PROPOSE
ton made twelve years before. The
dozen years she had spoken of had
passed and while I was still on the
lower side of middle age she had pass
ed beyond it. Nevertheless my interest
in bachelor life-if I ever had any
had died down until it's pleasures had
turned to gall. My recent attendance
upon a society bud during the small
hours Of the morning was still fresh in
my memory, while the insipid nothings
l had been obliged to say and listen to
nauseated NE.
| wrote at once to q relative of Miss
Whitney asking what had become of
her, and received Il reply that she lived
in the house in which she had always
lived. and in which l had so often
called upon her while l was a student.
She was beloved and respected by all
who knew her and my correspondent
wondered that though she had receiv-
ed many offers she had accepted none.
A few days after the receipt of this
information l was in Miss Whitney's
home and sent up my ard with the
letter l had so recently received, hav-
ing UNDERSIGNED On the envelope the
postmark showing the day it was mail
ed and another giving the day it was
received.
When Miss Whitney came down to
receive me, with considerable embar-
rassment in her manner and q telltale
blush on her cheek, I was surprised
that she did not show her years by
half a dozen, and there was not a gray
hair in her head. She looked much
younger for a woman than I for a
man.
However. l had not come to see her
for beauty. but in the hope of a re-
newal of hat companicnsllip | had
enjoyed a decade before. She told me
that she had been at n loss to under
stand my silence. for since her letter
had not been returned to her through
the dead letter office she could not
doubt that | had received it.
During ar hours conversation with
her the fact became impressed upon
my mind that l was not the man to
marry a chit Of a girl and that 1
would find the companionship 1 needed
in Miss Whitney. l received a promise
that she would correspond with me,
and since my home was not a long
journey from hers l made her a num-
Der of visits. But my own mind was
made up at our reunion. and fortunate
ly I had only to wait for the lady to
be satisfied that 1 would not be likely
to regret the step I was bent upon
taking.
That regretting is one of the most
improbable things in the world is
manifest in the fact that we have been
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