The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1913-05-16
TIE TWO
SUITORS
By EDITH v. ROSS

III rt.EI. 1870 t4a ,sIY-Ha- s5l&1EG EGl sstGgf 18Th
circumstances alter cases. This on.
its face is an indefinite adage. At any
rate, it is Indefinitely expressed. but it
contains q truth.
Miss Arabella Simmonds was a very
romantic young lady, n Of those girls
who dream Of a prince who is TO come
and carry her off in spite Of family and
friends and other suitors. She spent Il
great deal of time picturing him in her
minds eye-tall. shapely and withal inn
maculate in his dress. 81
When the prince anne he came dou-
ble-that is. there were two suitors.
both Of whom, though they did not
fill Miss SimmOnds' 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 a slight imper-
lection from a bald spot the size Of a
silver dollar e 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 Mr.. Ledwith. The reason for
this was that she would prefer a hus-
band with a 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 we'll
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
%seproach, 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 nan
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 q 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
Mr.. Dowdy's object vas to get out
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 a 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 a Stable
pile. He knew that when he stepped
on it it would give way, SC 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. 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 first
refused him. begrimed with coal dust.
But what mattered it? He had been
turned down and could not be turned
down but once. so he resolved to face
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 adj
mittedto 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 hands0mer.
There was not a speck Of dirt on him;
anywhere. A white kid glove rubbed
all over him would not have been in.
the least soiled. He opened his case
at once by telling Miss Simmondsst that
lif kept in suspense any longer he
would go mad. He implored her to
lend his su1erings. szs2ai
Miss Simmonds was about to CONFESS
that she loved him when she cast her
eyes aside at the doorway leading into
1.-The room and saw and recognized.
through the coal dust the figure; "a the q
man she had but a short time before;
refused. If his expression had then
been melancholy It low expressed the
wall ola broken heart. Fa:S III u
What d singular being - woman
Here was one who for years bad been
dreaming Of the manly beauty. the
Il chsfnfn1 h0 hi1ynn ox1fo ~