Imperial Valley press., 1912-02-10
A Split Coin
BY ANNA B. WRIGHT
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

believe, who said that while love is
but portion of mans life it Is a
woman's whole existence, or words to
that effect While there are many ex-
ceptions to the rule. there is no doubt
chat woman treasures Il love. or at least
it's memory. longer than a man. Miss
Amelia Dexter has the half Of a silver
ten cent piece which has been in her
possession thirty years. At any rate.
she was treasuring it till recently. when
she met the man who gave it to her
What she las done with it since no.
body knows.
When Amelia was seventeen she Wis
tied her aunt. the wife of a professor
OF the Naval academy at Annapolis.
There she met Il young midshipman
who smiled upon her. showing a beau
tiful set of white teeth. while his eyes
laughed with every other feature. The
girl collapsed ut once. Whether her
love for the young man strengthened
is question. More likely it was born
all at once.
Nevertheless Cadet Williams and
Amelia Dexter paired Off" as young
people call being exclusively devoted
to each other. Williams was Miss Dex-
ters escort to the cadet dances and
accompanied her in her walks. No
other girl aspired to any attention from
him, and Amelia received no attention
from any other cadet. In short. there
was between them one of those inno-
cent relations which have not the for
mality Of an engagement-a sort Of
natural youthful emotion preliminary
to mating. In man it is usually a
pleasant tenderness which may or may
not take root. 1t may be the same in u
girl, yet there are cases wherein it has
been an undying love-
There were special auxiliaries in this
case the academy band discoursing
martial music. the cadet corps march
ing on and off parade. the formal sa-
lutes between officers and between Off
GERS and cadets. There is an autocracy
among men trained to fight as we'll as
a certain swagger. probably intended to
overbalance the fact that what they
are being educated for is to be killed
Nevertheless it is fascinating to the
young of both sexes. who take very
little account of what it is for. 1t has
always figured largely in love.
Amelia spent Il couple of months at
Annapolis. then went home to begin
another year at school. The nearest
thing to an understanding between her
and her cadet lover was the split coin
AS to an engagement. neither of them
thought Of such Il matter of fact pro
ceeding. They had not grown mature
enough TO make an arrangement for a
lifetime. They lived and loved only for
the present. The future was or seemed
to be too far for their consideration.
The split coin represented what they
felt and its intrinsic value ,about 80
per cent of its current valuel repre-
sented the real depth Of their affec-
ton.
That is. for the boy AS to the girl.
this is one of the cases the poet de-
scrbed 1t was not an egg to be de-
veloped. 1t was born perfect and in
destructible She left Annapolis with
her half a coin hidden away in her
bosom. while underneath it burned 4
fame like that kept alive by vestal
virgins.
What transpired from that time till
thirty years had passed is not Il part
OF this story Miss Dexter is now an
old maid Williams is an admiral and
grandfather One summer there
was naval war game on the Atlantic
coast. AT IL reception given to the Of
tcerS of the fleet Miss Dexter. an ell
derly SpinSter. was present. Admir-
al Williams was introduced TO her
They chatted awhile. when Miss DeX-
ter began to ask him leading questions.
She spoke of certain moonlight even
ing on the porch of one of the pro-
fessors of the Naval academy. Then
and there he had given her her first
kiss She contented herself with men
tioning certain correlative incidents.
The admiral didn't twiG. She referred
to a ride on the water in which they
sat side by side in a retired corner.
his arm encirclng her waist. The
admiral did not even remember the
boat ride She mentioned certain cir
cumstances connected with their last
parting The admiral wondered what
she was driving at.
Then the admiral began to rally her
on not having married. saying that it
was undoubtedly her own fault. She
admitted that she had had an affair
when very young with Il naval otti-
Ger and taking in her hand a fine
gold chain she wore about her neck.
drew from her bosom half a dime.
She told the admiral that the man who
had kept the other half had forgotten
| her
IF you'll tell me who he is" re-
piled Williams. "and if he is ever un-
der my command I'll make him wish
he had better memory
Miss Dexter sighed. but made no
reply. The admiral clustered about
the fine sense of honor of officers of the
navy in matters pertaining to woman.
declaring that the saying that a sailor
has sweetheart in every port is slur
on the service Then. being called
away. he made a profound bow and
continued to pour forth his repertory
of complaints upon the next woman he
met
Why did nor Miss Dexter tell him