Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1912-02-08

being 50 stupid as to refuse me her
daughters hand. This was long after
l mad received the valentine, for Efs
vas ntneteea and l was twenty. IF
ne was a. stupid, l thought. as her
mother about the matter, for although
she declared she would never marry
any one but me, she demurred ut be-
coming my wife. 1 being In posses
sion OF an income Of nothing a year.
At any rate, she told NE that. her
mother having forbidden her from re-
ceiVing or communicating with me.
she would obey. Indeed, she was
forced to obey. l couldn't take care
Of her as my wife, and had no right
to be dangling about her keeping de
sTable suitors away.
l accused her Of hearuesgpess AID
other unattractive traits till I drew
tears, then called myself q brute. then
kissed her goodby and then went
away determined to put myself In
position to earn enough to marry on.
l worked like Trojan. did not
only my own work, but every enc
else's IN the Office where 1 was en-
ployed. While other boys vvko lad nc
such spur as 1 had thought only Of
getting holiday now and then OF Of
shirking what work they didn't fancy
| was thinking only Of E6le and a tiny
cottage. 1 worked all day and eften
at night. Indeed. 1 worked 50 hard
that my employers noticed It and kent
on raising my salary and advancing
ne till one day 1 was astonished at
proposition for me to manage the de.
tail Of the business at q salary Of SC.
600 year.
While l was standing before the
members Of the firm with q puzzled
look on my face was not thinking Of
the proposition or the $4,000 II year; 1
was thinking Of how to communicate
the good news TO Efe. 1 believed her
mother would grow more aud mora
difficult to satisfy IN 4 pecuniary way
each year, and determined not to ap-
peal to her but to Life direct Three
years had passed during which I had
kept apart from Ellie and Ellie had
kept apart from me. But how could
l know whether she was unchanged!
l couldn't. Suppose I wrote her to
find out and received no reply. I
wouldn't know whether my letter had
fallen into her mothers hands or
whether Ellie had received It and did
not care 10 renew our past relations.
And here comes in the second val
entine. was offered my new position
the 1st of January, and In six weeks
St Valentines day came round.
sent Efie. who was now TWENTY-FIVE
years old, q valentine. / was aware
that the custom had even at that day
fallen largely into the hands Of chill
dren. 1 didn't intend to declare NV
love IN verses that had now come to
seem cheap 10 me. I used the valen-
tine as a starter for a clandestine cor
respondence. I wrote u message on It
IN lemon juice, then indited in dis
guised hand this couplet:
II to know me you aspire
Read my name before the hra.
You see letters written in lemon
Juice, though invisible before. when
heated come out . brown color. Eff
he would apply the necessary heat
only feared that she would throw
the valentine in the wastebasket with
out reading the couplet.
That all turned out right was APP
parent in letter I received from my
valentine, for which l had given her an
address. Ellie was delighted ct my
success and said that she was very
proud Of me. she added. however.
that so far as obtaining her mothers
consent TO our marriage or even an en-
gagement was concerned, It would be
more difficult than ever Her mothers
figures for the fortune Eme's husband
should possess We're rising every day.
Ellie and l after this continued to
correspond clandestinely. she not
knowing exactly what TO do. She
loved her mother, and she loved me.
She had yielded to her mothers wish
es so long as l was unable TO support
her, and. now that / was in a position