The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1913-06-26
THE TWO
SUITORS
By EDITH V. ROSS

contains a truth.
Miss Arabella Simmonds was very
romantic young lady, one of those girls
who dream of prince who Is to come
and carry her off in spite of family and
friends and other suitors. She spent
great deal of time picturing him in her
minds eye-tall. shapely and withal i'm
macuate in his dress.
When the prince came he came dou-
ble-that is, there were two suitors.
both of whom. though they did not
ill Miss Simmcnds' dreams, were fine
TO look upon. One was Peter Dowdy.
with nothing unromantic about him but
his name; the other Edwin Ledwith
whose name was well enough, but his
manly beauty suffered slight imper
fection from bald spot the size of
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 hesi
tated long while between them, then
one day made up her mind she would
accept Mr.. Ledwith. The reason for
this was that she would prefer hus-
band with bald spot to being called
Mrs. Dowdy.
1t so happened that the evening of
the day on which she came to this con
clusion both these gentlemen called
upon her. Both had proposed and both
were anxiously expecting an answer.
Mr. Dowdy called first. He 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 to 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 to his discontinue; he sim
ply withdrew as one who had received
his quietus and should have expect
ed it.
1t was quite dark outside when he
left the house, and there was no street
lamp near Coal had been put in dur
ing 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 a coal bin. He
fell and was some time rolling about
on the coal 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 be reached. There was a door to
the coal bin, but it was locked.
without attracting attention. The
egress he preferred was by the hole
above, and he set to work heaping up
the coal that he might form pyramid
on which to 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
succeeded in forming quite sizable
pile. He knew that when he stepped
on it it would give way, so he did his
climbing rapidly in order to make a
reach before being let down. The re-
suit was a fall and a roll, and the
| light spring suit he wore. the tan spats.
| his shirt front, collar, cuffs. face and
hands were all as black as the ace OF
spades.
Discouraged, he examined the door
of the bin and found it securely lock-
ed choice of two things remained
either he must remain there indefinite
| ly or he must kick for some one to
come and let him out. He shrank from
appearing before the girl who had first
refused him begrimed with coal dust.
| But what mattered it? He had been
turned down and could not be turned
the music. He kicked
Now. it happened that Mr.. Ledwith
| called Just before Mr.. 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 a few feet and was ad-
mitted to Miss Simmonds presence. His
appearance-he was In evening dress
with a boutonniere-was conducive to
success. Miss Simmonds thought she
had never seen him look handsomer,
There was not speck of dirt on him
anywhere. white kid glove rubbed
| all over him would not have been in
the least soiled. He opened his case
at once by telling Miss Simmonds that
if 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 and recognized
through the coal dust the figure of the
man she had but short time before
refused. If his expression had then
been melancholy it now expressed the
wall Of broken heart.
What a singular being is 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
hne habiliments were before her. and
there. too. was the man who had been
| rolltnp In tho coal hola With WO-