The Washington bee., 1911-08-19
My Sympathetic
Friend
By SUSAN YOUNG PALMER

TO an orphan asylum, When l was
eighteen the matrOn one morning call
ed me into her room and said to me:
"YOu have been very useful to US
here since you passed out of child
hood, but l am expected by the
managers to get on without help.
You are now old enough to be sell
! supporting and must either work for
yourself alone or in a home. l &C.
casiOnally receive a letter from some
man desiring one of our grown girls
for a wife. 1 had one of these let
ters this morning from a young man
In the west, who says that he has
a good farm on which he lives alone,
and he wishes me to send him some
one for a helpmeet whom 1 can rec
ommend, and he has forwarded let
tiers recommending him. Let me know
II you wish the position"
The matrOn was used to cOndensing
J everything she said just as she had
! spoken these words. She was a good
woman, but was so intimately connect
ed with the worlds troubles that she
could not give much attention to those
OF any one person. She turned to 9th
er duties, and / left her to 90 to my
room to think.
The result of my fearful delibera-
| lions was that / was a few DAYS later
handed a ticket and what money [
| would need on the journey and took
a train for the west. My leaving was
telegraphed to my future husband,
| who was to meet me at the station.
marry me and drive me twenty miles
| TO his farm. | had no mOney with
which to return or go anywhere else
In case he should prove disagreeable.
Indeed, l felt as though l had been
| pitched over a precipice
The train had left Chicago and we
were bowling along toward the Missis-
sippi. | noticed a young man sitting
near me who was looking at me,
tho lght, sympathetically. l must have
sho VA my dependency in my face,
for lis own reflected it or. rather, be-
| spoke cOmmiseratiOn. Presently he
| camt over to me and said, with an en-
! cour lging smile:
"Y III look troubled Is there any.
thint' can do or say to make you feel
happ er"
TIL, re was that in his honest face
and yes that invited conf -eDce l
told Inn my story. He listened to it
attent gely and respectfully and when
had finished said:
Has it occurred to you that the
man who is to marry you is in the
same position with regard to you that
you are with regard to him?"
81 never thought of that"
"And do you know that many so
called love matches turn out very IN
happilyY'
II supposed l replied, that it was
the forced marriages such as the one
l am about to make that are failures"
There is 40 truer saying than that
marriage is a lottery. / think you
have a better chance in yours than
those people who, blinded by love, see
no fault until a number of them are
plainly visible after marriage. I'm
biasSed persons have recommended
this man to you and you to him You
both trust to them instead of your
own judgment biassed ny love. The
chances are largely in yOLV favor"
What you say" l replier sounds
encouraging, but It seems to me
that l would rather begin with love
even if 1 must end with disappOint-
ment"
Spoken like a woman" he rej0ined.
'And 1 would rather begin without
love and end with love-"
What a treasure are these people
who have the faculty of lifting the
cloud that hangs over US and showing
US the sun shining behind This young
man seemed to have only an ordinary
education. but any deficiency was
made up by common sense. Then, too,
it was easy to see that he had kind
heart He was constantly looking at
me out of those sympathetic eyes of
his, which said, Poor child, how I
pity yOu!" He was with me most of
the anu iii the dlbSIuOOu-
He soon ceased to talk about my tTOu-
bic. leading me into other paths.
though he told me many instances of
persons who had made marriage a
matter of business and found it a
matter of affection.
My lOver-I was certainly thinking
the word, mOckery that it was-had
written that my train would land me
in the night at the last principal town
on my route. and I was to remain
there. taking another train the next
morning. When / parted with my
newly made friend | relapSed into the
same miserable condition as before.
But l was tired. and that night, though
I went to sleep in tears, l got fairly
good rest This and a bright morning
kept me up the next day till l ap-
preached the last station, where l was
to meet my lover" when it was all
l could do TO resist a temptation to
throw myself from the train. I per
mitted every one TO go out before me
and wished there were more of them.
Then when alone l nerved myself for
the ordeal and left the car.
Nv lnvar