The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-12-16

| NUM- there is a moral
tackled on as be-
comes one of my cloth"
Cant you give us the moral first,
then we won't have to be dreading it?"
asked the judge.
Yes, I'm willing to do that. The
moral is: Beware of selfishness, lest
you be hoist with your own lyddite
shell. 1t all happened up at my town
last fall. There's widow living there
who has three daughters, very esti-
mable young ladies, but, alas, the two
older are exceedingly selfish. They
are both somewhat farther along in
life than the average unmarried wom-
an don't know how old they are
/ hope I'm too much Of a gentleman to
know anything about lady's age
but just for the sake of the story we'll
call one of them slightly over thirty
and the other slightly under The
third daughter I'm willing to come out
boldly and call twenty-we're on safer
ground when we get down in that
neighborhood, you know And, better
yet, this girl is one of the most I'M
selfish creatures in the world She is,
in fact, most charming girl in every
way, with pretty face and a quiet,
unassuming manner which never fails
to win with its simple charm If she
has any failing it is that of too great
humility and an inclination to allow
herself to be imposed upon. There is,
believe, a sort of unwritten law
among women that daughters must
marry in rotation according to age.
Dorothy was very closely looked
after by her mother and older sis
tiers, and little opportunity was ever
given her even remotely to contem-
plate the idea of marriage. 1t was
not until last fall that anything in the
guise of a man was allowed to ap-
proach within hailing distance. Then
she was given the privilege of re-
ceiving some circumspect calls form a
neighboring young man named Harry
Lambert
You must not gather that the older
girls had no attention-far from it.
Mr. Edward Edgewater has been regu-
larry paying court to Elizabeth, the
Oldest, for a number of years. Mr.
William Jackson has been doing the
same by Ruth, the second daughter.
$50 during the fall things ran on as
l have indicated, each of the young
men finding happiness In the company
of the lady of his choice every Sunday
evening. But with the approach of
cold weather the prospect for Doro-
thy changed. The porch or the lawn
were all very well under the soft in
fuence of the harvest moon-perhaps
preferable to any other place-but the
austere November moon Is another
thing. Right here I ought to mention
that the widows house, though COM
Portable, is far from large 1t accommo-
dated Elizabeth and Ruth very pleas
antly for counting purposes, but there
was really no place for another. So
there was nothing for Dorothy but to
throw herself on the generosity of the
others, and beg them to share with
har since Sunday evening was the
only time that Harry could convent
emily call She went to Elizabeth first
and laid the case before her. She re-
piled in effect that she was in the
habit of entertaining Mr.. Edgewater
in the parlor each Sunday evening and
that she had no intention of giving it
up.
Poor Dorothy wiped her eyes and
sought Ruth. This lady was dumfound-
ed. The idea! She was accustomed
to see Mr.. Jackson in the dining room
each Sunday evening, and she thought
she saw herself giving it up to a mink
who ought to be wearing her hair in
a long braid.
That evening Harry came. He had
feared the worst, and was provided
with his winter overcoat and a pair
of heavy goloshes. Dorothy put on
her winter cloak and took her muff
and together they spent an hour
tramping brfskly up and down the path
beside the house. At the end of the
hour Harry said goodnight at the front
steps, passed out the gate, sneezed
furiously three times and hurried
home.
The next afternoon Dorothy and
Harry called at my house Harry ask
ed me to marry them then and there
Dorothy told their story So l mar
RED them"