The daily Alaskan., 1912-11-14
A Homely
 Courtship
By SUSAN YOUNG PORTER

that stories or the toWp0lh were Nui rent That wus when the canal boat was the chief means of transportation in America. At one time they were used as passenger boats Then, under competition with the railroads, they sank Into trelghdng only, and now they have almost entirely passed away.
 In those freighung days a man named Shock drove mule on the towpath which pulled boat Shock was as homely as his name He had never had a sweetheart, and there was little hope Of his ever having one, for when ever a woman looked at him she was appalled,
 There was, some three or four hun dred yards from the canal, at about the center of Shocks route, a tumble
 down house in a small lot, In one corn CT of which was a pigsy. One day, when Shock was trudging along be- bind his mule, he saw Ut an open win. dow In the dllapidated trap a female figure. She was too far off for him to see what she looked Ike, but she way ed something white, which Euoch took to be a tablecloth Whether she was trying to nirt with him or was shaking the crumbs out Of the cloth he could not be sure, Taking a bandanna from his pocket he returned the wave,
 Now. Enoch was cocnlzant of the fact that he was not beautiful His hair was a 6ery rcd, hls nose was a pug the color of his hair, his teeth were mostly gone. Had lt not been for this he might have made bold on his return trip to give his mule a rest and gone to the house awooInC As it was. and since this was the only chance he had ever met, he was wary. He thought lt better to make some headway In lovom8kinC before risking showing the lady his homely person at close proximity. So, Instead of stop. ping when he passed again, having provided himself with a boys blow gun. he fired a wad Of paper at her which being uurolcd revealed the fol- lowing note:
 q seen you at yure wInder yistaday and wood like verry much Co mak yu7e ae- quaintGuc
 The lady was watching for the boat on its return trip, and when Euoch fired his note at her she saw it fan near her house and, going out picked lt up and read lt But by this time Enoch had gone on his way.
 When Enoch passed the house again he saw large letters chalked against the house. which, though it had been originally white, not having been paint cd in twenty years, was now a dull brown. The letters were plainly visi- ble from the canal, and Enoch read:
 I can't see what you look like from vera. but you may be a decent looSin. tel- Tor and f you olr you kin come and see nc.
 This reply was rather a setback to one who knew full well that he was homeIy as a hedgehog. The communi- cation was brief, and It contained eN- nctly what Enoch would have preferred that it should not contain. The lady evidently was looking for handsome man. The message convinced him that be was right in not permitting her to see him close by before he had stirred up some sentiment which might lead her to overlook In a measure bis hOmeliness.
 Fuoch's next love letter was written in lampblack on several boards nailed together and set up on the deck of his canaIboat facing the house Of bis In amorata. It read:
 if you aF a purty woman [ wood bo hap ny 10 stop over. Halnt got no use Ter ugly wimmen.
 When Enoch passed the house the next time the blinds were an closed and no living thing was to be seen eN- cept few chickens scratching the dirt in the yard. Enoch was disappointed Tt was plain to him that this was In. tended for a snub. On his next trip he wrote on bis boards, What's upT To which was chaIbed the reply, ''Nothln,"
 Enoch reasoned that his lady love had been miTed at his previous com munication. thinking that he had ac cused her Of being homely, but hav- ing thought the matter over, she had seen his note in another light He began to think that "faiut heart never won fair lady" and he might as well face the music one time as another So he wiped the lampblaCk or his boards and wrote again:
 ne stop over ney' trip
 When he passed again he was ar. rayed in a store suit that had cost him S4. His hair had been creased with a slice of fat and his boots had been blacked Stopping bis mule-and the boat when it had lost it's momentum he proceeded to the house Of his lady love. She had been watching him from a window and opened the door for him.
 Jaws a marsyr was her eyclama. ton.
 "By gumr' was Enoch's.
 The woman had lost mostof the hair on her head. which seemed to have gone Co her face. Her nose had de- veloped abnormally under the effect of some skin disease. She was slabslded