The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-01-10
A RACE FOR
A WIFE
The Girl Gave Answer In LapIand
Fashion to a Proposal
By ELEANOR L. BRITTON
Copyright. 1911. by American Press :

By ELEANOR L. BRITTON
Copyright. 1911. by American Press
Association.


Spitzburger was a great traveller.
He had visited every country on the
globe, and verify believe that If
aviation had come up in his day he
would have sailed up beyond the
clouds to find others. When l made
his acquaintance he had settled down
in place he called by jawbreaking
name signifying dwelling that he
had picked up among the Eskimos
or some other benighted people. It
was in the country situated on the top
Of hill and looked more like Chi
nese pagoda than any other structure.
Spitzburger was a widower, with
one child, daughter. She was twen-
ty years old and for half her life had
travelled during half Of each year-the
summer season-with her father. He
redity and travel had made her as
odd as he. Rather she was unique
She was of medium height, 1.-THE, wiry
indeed. feminine athlete Of the
featherweight type. Her hair was black
and straight as an Indians; her eyes
large black ones, with lashes of the
Spanish type. wondered If her moth
er had not been some dusky semicivi-
liked creature her father had picked up
on the underside of the world But
he told me his wife had been an Amer
lean creole.
The inside of the house in which
these two lived was as curious as the
outside. The furniture and ornamen-
tai articles had apparently been gath
cred from all points of the globe, rang
ing from the south sea islands to
Greenland. There was a mill for
grinding from the Holy Land similar
to those used In Bible times, a wheel
from India to spin fax on, and the
bathtub had been the sarcophagus Of
an Egyptian mummy.
The reason for my making the Spitz-
burgers acquaintance was this: was
taking a postgraduate course at the
time, studying the customs of differ
ent races of men, the causes and eff
fects which shape them and their re-
lationship. Desiring some informa-
ton as to the people of Tibet, land
forbidden to foreigners and therefore
little known. was recommended to
Spitzburger as one who had penetrat-
ed to the interior Of that country.
went to see him. and my visit led to
my studying with him
H0xu IOpn I ro,aafuad @houo 1oorryA
matter, but it was sufficient for my
enthrallment by that little savage, .
as / called his daughter, Irene. Not
that there was any outward intima-
ton on my part that was coming I'M
der spell, and. as for the girl, had
no idea that was any more to her
than another man. Indeed, / some
times fancied that she might have left
her heart in New Zealand, Kamchatka
or some other barbarous land. Wheth-
er Spitzburger suspected the drift of
my inclinations don't know. but one
day he took occasion to mention with
appreciation the marriage customs in
Lapland, where one who marries a
girl without her parents consent is
adjudged guilty of crime next below
murder and is punished accordingly
| thought that ne looked at me very
hard, but "a guilty conscience needs
no accuser" and | may have attached
more meaning to his words than they
covered
The only thing to indicate that Irene
and l were drifting together as lovers
was that we took long walks together
made an excuse for this that In her
company | could both exercise and
study. This was true could get
from her certain information of the
domestic habits of the people she had
visited that / could not get from her
father. One day while we were on
one of these walks | said to her:
'Your father tells me that in Lap
land to marry girl without her par
ents' consent Is punished as crime.
Please tell me how man in that coun-
try does his courting."
''He doesn't do any counting"
''Then how does he proceed"
HE goes to her parents and asks
for her. If he Is refused there Is no
hope for him. If they approve Of his
suit they tell the girl of it. She may
or may not have seen the lover, but
the process is the same In either case.
Her parents give feast at which
they, the girl. her sutton and mutual
friends are present. The two princi-
pals are placed opposite each other at
table. where they can observe and
talk with each other all they like"
"Well, then what? | suppose the
girl has something to say in the mat
ter, else this looking over her sutton
would be useless"
Eyes, she has good deal to say
about it. but she doesn't yet make 1t
known She indicates her decision
later. After the feast all go to an open
space suitable for running a race. A
course is marked off-a quarter Of
mile usdally-and the girl Is given a
handicap of a third of the distance.
The handicap is Intended to enable her
to win the race easily If she wishes.
and If she wins that indicates her re-
fusal of the offer But if. on the con-
trary, she purposely lags and her suitor
catches her. that indicates she accepts
him for her husband"
When Irene finished giving me this
bit of lecture on Lapland customs
walked for some distance without
speaking.
"What are you thinking of" she
asked
II am thinking how popular this
method would be at our universities,
where athletics are so much in vogue
Every Undergraduate would be mar
ried before the end of his course"
1t was a month after this that, hav-
ing got all out Of Spitzburger in the
line Of my studies that desired, be-
gan to think of leaving. A singular
something there was in Irene had con-
tinued to grow upon me, and-well l
wanted her. Remembering what her
father had said on the subject, l went
to him and asked him for his daughter.
81 will inform her Of the honor you
do her," he said.
waited day for reply, and as l
received none the suspense threw me
into an awful fret. At the end Of the
second day, the situation being the
same. I was almost demented. On the
morning of the third. determined to
have the matter out with Irene,
asked her to go for a walk with me.
the last we would take together before
my departure. She assented and went
up to her room for her wraps She
was some time getting them, and when
she came down what was my surprise
to see that she had put on a skirt
reaching but little below the knees, and
instead Of hat she had wrapped a
veil about her head