The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-12-19
AN INCENTIVE
TO MARRIAGE
BY DOROTHEA HALE
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.

\ There is something about the portal
Of matrimony that seems 10 require
new conditions. set humdrum state
Is not likely to be conducive to wed.
lock. This is especially true of those
who are passing out OF the heyday Of
youth. IL man growing into bach
elorhood or woman into spinsterhood
wishes to change their condition their
best chance Is TO take an ocean voy.
age at a season when they will meet
other travellers. Probably there are
more marriages concocted on shipboard
in proportion to the size Of the passen-
ger list than in any other community.
But after a couple have mutually re-
solved 10 cast their lot together let
them not take any more such trips sep.
arately or what has been accomplish
ed may be undone.
William Martindale had come to his
thirty-6fth year without being mated
and was looking forward to a lonely
old age with horror. Not being very
closely tied down TO business he re-
solved to take trip abroad In order
to relieve that ennui which begins to
show itself in bachelors and spinsters
while they are crossing life's equinoc-
tial line. Miss Susan Eldridge. aged
thirty, had given up trying to make up
her mind TO marry some one OF the sim
gle men she had long known and con-
cluded that If she could not be inter
ested in a household she might at least
enjoy change Of scene.
Mr.. Martindale and Miss Eldridge
met on a steamer running from New
York to Naples. They left the Amer
lean coast in chilly weather and found
the contrast on reaching the baimy at.
mosphere of the gulf stream delight
full. They sat on deck most of the day
and occasionally In the evening, rising
and falling with the swell, listening TO
the swish made by the meeting of the
waves and the vessel and each others
chat. now watching bird sailing
above and wondering how 1t dare fly
so far from land, and found 1t all de.
lightful.
what an interesting womanw re-
marked Mr.. Martindale to himself. IF
/ had before met a girl like that
would by this time have been the IA
Their of family" Had the young
men / have known so long, remarked
Miss Eldridge. had tenth part OF
the soul this man possesses l would
not now have the prospect before me
of finishing my life an old maid"
On the Mediterranean trip the steam
er usually stops at the island of Ma
deira. Mr.. Martindale and Miss FL
bridge went ashore together and enter
ed a garden filed with tropical plants
redolent Of fiowery perfumes. When
they came out of that garden they
were engaged.
The rest of the voyage was like sail
light night. The critical fashion In
which they had previously viewed
members of the opposite sexes from a
matrimonial point Of view was re-
placed by an ideal appreciation of each
other induced by an atmosphere en-
tlrely different from any to which they
had been accustomed. They landed at
Naples, strolled together through the
exhumed streets of Pompeii, sat on the
cliff overlooking the Mediterranean at
Corrento and drove together to Amalh.
And 1t seemed to each that the other
resembled some divinity perpetuated
in marble in the galleries they fire.
quented.
They separated at Rome to meet
later in America, where they were to
make arrangements for their wedding,
The intervening time had passed.
Mr. Martindale had arrived at home,
and Miss Eldridge was sailing up New
York bay. She paced the deck with q
brow on which lowered a mental dis
turbance. Mr.. Martindale. she knew,
was on the dock waiting for her. Why
did she not wear happy expression at
the expected meeting2
And Mr.. Martindale-why did be
walk through the long dock house with
a perplexed look on his face and shud
der as he caught glimpse Of the ship
on which stood his daneee? They met
Each strnYe- tn. npE on, q. smile Of VEL.