The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-05-03
THE TWO
SUITORS
BY EDITH V. ROSS


romantic young lady. one of those girls
who dream of a prince who is To come
and carry her OF in spite OF family aud
friends and other suitors. She spent Il
great deal OF time picturing him in her
minds eye-tall, shapely aud wthal i'm
maculate in his dress.
When the prince came he came dou-
ble--that is. there We're two suitors.
both Of whom. though they did not
MI Miss Simmonds dreams. were fine
10 look upon. One was Peter Dowdy.
| with nothing unromnutic about him but
| his name: the other Edwin ledwith,
/ whose name was we'll enough. hut his
manly beauty suffered slight imper.
| lection from a bald spot the size Of a
silver dollar near the part In his hair
Both OF these young men being at
Miss Simmonds' disposal. both being
especially desirable To her. she hest
tated a long while between them. then
one day made up her mind she would
accept MI Ledwith The reason for
this was that she would prefer "A hus-
band with bald spot To being called
Mrs. Dowdy.
Ii so happened that the evening OF
the day on which she came Ia this con-
clusion both these gentlemen called
upon her. Both had proposed and both
were anSiously expecting an answer
Mr. Dowdy called first lie had not
been with the lady long before she told
him that she had been considering his
offer. that she admired and respected
him. but she did not love him well
enough 10 marry him The look of
melancholy with which this dismissal
was received quite touched Miss sim
monds' heart. He uttered no word of
reproach. said nothing about having
been led on 10 his discontinue; he sim
ply withdrew as one who had received
his quetus and should have expect.
cd it.
Ii was quite dark outside when he
left the house, and there was no street
lamp near. Coal had been put IN dur
lug the afternoon. and the colored man
who did the job had neglected to re-
place the lid after having finished the
job
The result was that Mr. DOwdy step
ped right down into IA coal bin. He
fell and was some time rolling about
on the coa before he could get on his
feet again. Then. to his horror. he dis
covered that the hole through which
he had dropped was too far above him
To he reached. There was door To
the coal bin. but Ii was locked
Mr. Dowdy's object was to get out
without attracting attention The
egress he preferred was by the hole
above, and he set Ia work heaping up
the coal that he might form II pyramid
on which Ia stand. catch at the side OF
the hole and draw himself up and out |
He had nothing To work with except |
his hands. but he scooped hard and !
in forming quite u stable |
on IL II would give way. 80 he did his |
rapidly ia order Ia make a
reach before being let down The re-
suit was II fan and Il roll. aud the
light spring suit he wore. the tan spats. |
his shirt front. collar cuffs. face and |
hands were all MS black as the ace Of |
spades.
Discouraged he examined the door !
of the bin aud found II securely lock. |
ed a choice of two things remained |
either he must remain there indefinite |
~ or he must kick FOR some one to |
come and let him out He shrank from |
appearing before the girl who had irst |
refused him begrimed with coal dust, |
But what mattered 1t? He had been |
turned down and could not be turned |
down but once. so he resolved To face
the music. lie kicked
Now. it happened that MIR Ledwith
called Just before MIR Dowdy began
to summon assistance. He had be-
come tired Of suspense and determined
to bring the young lady to the point.
Fortunately he had missed the open
coal hole by few feet and was adj
mitted To Miss Simmonds' presence. His
appearance-he was In evening dress
with bOntOnniere-- was conducive To
success. Miss SimmondS thought she
had never seen him look handsOmer
There was not II speck Of dirt on him
duy WueTe. WHiie hlu glove rlDDcu
all over him would not have been In
the least solled He opened his case
at once by telling Miss Simmonds that
II kept In suspense any longer he
would go mad. He implored her to
end his sufferings
Miss SimmondS was about TO confess
that she loved him when she cast her
eyes aside at the doorway leading into
the room and saw ana recognized
through the coal dust the figure Of the
man she had hut n short time before
refused. if his expression had then
been melancholy IL now expressed the
wall Of a broken heart
What "A singular being IL woman.
Here was one who for years had been
dreaming OF the manly beauty. the
shining habiliments Of the man she
would love. That manly beauty. those
fine habiliments We're before her. and
there. too was the man who had been
rolling In the coat hole With u wo
man. sympathy Is always trump
card.
IL regret, Mr.. Ledwith." she said. Ito
give you an unfavorable answer to
your very hattering proposal. but am
to AIR nnwbv -