Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-02-21
Eueni,,g Story
MERIDEN IN THE MOUNTAINS.
By Stanley e. Barton.

Literary Press).
For three months Mart Meriden
lived in a hut In the mountains with
out seeing a SOUL The mere thought
of women bred q nausea in him, and
he frequently told himself that the
hermits Of the old testament had the
right ideas of things after all.
All of this would indicate that
Meriden had collided head-on with the
subtleness of woman disastrously
He had. One Dolly Condor, an
innocent eyed blonde had recently
taught Meriden things about her sex
that his exalted ideas would have re
fused at one time to accept. Dolly
was an expert at deceit. Her heart
fed upon the love that she exacted
from her admirers-and she gave
nothing in return.
Meriden was only one of the many
moths who had gone before, but he
took the singing Of his. own wings
bitterly. His conception Of the other
sex underwent complete change. He
brooded over his treatment by this
wisp of woman who had seemed to
embody all the essential points of his
luCp4, duO at 1o6I JAO SAIy VAIA ASC WI
slant memories of her became unbear'
able. He went itno the mountains.
Meriden selected the Rockies as
his point of solitude, and his assert
ment Of guns and fishing tackle was
of the best that could be procured in
New York.
The Gothamite hunted. fshed and
gloomed over his disappointing love
affair to his hearts content. No
thought of business entered his mind.
He had no business. Meriden's father
had successfully battled with the
bulls and bears Of Wall street, aliu
at mis- death there was no reason for
his only heir to work. There was
money enough and to spare-no mat
ter how extravagant this scion of the
house might be.
Gradually it came to Meriden, how
ever, that thoughts of Dolly were be-
coming more and more infrequent.
Now, too. his heart refused it's Gus
tomary thump. Meriden was shocked,
panied. He was disappointed iH him
self.
Gloomily marveling over the in
consistency Of heart that he would
have sworn must remain true forever,
the young hermit of the Rockies care
fully joined together steel rod and
attached a gaudy fly to a silk line. A
crystal stream swung it's rowing way
past his very feet.
In the very act of whipping his
long line to the scintillating ripples
good fifteen feet below. Meriden
paused. startled expression in his
eyes. To him had come, on the clear
wings of the morning, the haunting
strains of an old French love song
in a rich, girlish soprano. Silently
the youth reeled his line and turned
his feet in the direction from which
the song had come.
AS Meriden hurried on. glad that his
long silence was at last to be ended,
the song came to trilling close.
Though the young New Yorker sought
through the golden morning and after
noon he could not find the owner OF
the voice.
"A cultivated voice." said Meriden
as he sat before the fireplace in his
nut that evening and gave himself up
to dreams. "a cultivated voice, If I
ever heard one-and here In the
mountains. It isn't SO bad, after all,
to be able to hear woman's voice
again. Three months ago" Meri-
den stilled his monologue in disgust.
It was blow to romance to have his
heart assure him that the Dolly Con-
don affair was only an episode and
not tragedy.
Ostensibly, Meriden, rifle in hand,
went squirrel hunting the next day;
in reality, he sought only the fair
he was positive she was beautiful
singer of the day before.
The huntsman's quest was futile.
Ii another camp existed near that OF
the youth, it was cleverly concealed.