The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-08-19
THE NEWS SHORT STORY

wise ana she 'uNluu 20 DICK on luN
dear old man, and there we was
"Thcm cases where two young hearts
is beaten together ana some old cur
mudge0u OF father or mother or
both opposes en-. don't have no sym
pathieS, seems mighty hard. I've never
been So worked mp over anything in
my life as / was over that Lillian
Nus as sorriful about IL as J. She
wouldn't marry me in spite OF her
father. and she wouldn't run away
with me. only had one evenin' in
the week with her ana the rest of the
time | was thiukin that another fell
Ter was tryin' 90 git her away from me.
The whole lot Of us was affected by
the gal The other five fellcrs not
KNOWN that ia got ahead Of 'em,
went ON maxim their calls, and / didn't
doubt that every one Of EN- was tryin'
10 iii the gal, for when a man sets his
heart on gal he won't let her alone
We'd all been good friends before the
parson and his daughter came among
US, and now instead Of his maxim Us
better, he'd made us worse. Every one
Of MS wa, ready 10 put lead into every
other one
AT last ! told Lillian / couldn't
stand the racket any longer aud she
must do one Of three things she must
part with me forever. or she must mar
ry me in spite Of her father. or she
must run away with me.
This broke her all up She said
she couldn't part with me nohDw. she
dare not defy her father, and the only
thing she would think Of dom was
10 run away and be married som'rs
else she asked me how we was goiu
10 cit on for a Twin. ! told her not
to worry about that; I'd been washin
for gold all summer and hadn't any
way 10 spend money I'm such place,
so ! had saved nearly all Of IT, ! had
enough gold 20 make up 81 900 or ST.
200 This seemed % make her feel
easier, and by a good deal o coaxin
at last got her promise 10 elope.
81 proposed to light out when IT was
dark walk down the road and take
the stage for Denver when il came
along she didn't seem 10 like this
plan very much; she said she'd sound
ed her father about her MARVIN me
and since then he'd been mighty sus-
piciouS Of her. Shed told him that
she must 90 down 10 Denver 10 do
some shoppu', and the old man had
consented 10 have her go. | could fol-
low her there in few days
Il agreed 10 this plan, but there was
a hitch She said she couldn't be mar
ried without trussoo. II she waited
for me to come and buy it for her it
would be too late, for as soon as ! left
the creek her father would suspect
somepin and we'd have 10 light out OF
Denver on my arrival there. I asked
her why she couldn't buy the trussoO
before ! came. and she said she hadn't
any money and her father would give
her only enough To buy few things.
He was dead against the Sinfulness of
vain decoration of the body. ! fixed
it all right 10y telin' her that I would
give her the money for the trussoo
and asked her how much IL would cost.
She said she didn't know; the best
way would be for her 10 carry the dust
with her. spend what was necessary
and we'd have the rest when | got
there i'm cash ready TO pay our ex-
penSeS 10 the east. She said she must
be- economical. for we'd need all we
had to begin life together after we was
married
when the day came around for Lii
liaus departure on her supposed shop
pin trip she was nightly broken up.
She said | wasn't To see her of, but
go right on with my daily work And
so did. 1t seemed 10 me that every
man besides myself had somepin on
his mind that day. | reckOned some
Of EN- would be waitin' for the stage
TO say goodby 10 her But every man
went on waShn' gold. III any one said
anything about Lillian's trip 10 Den
yer nobody seemed 10 notice il, or If
they did they'd say, oh. she'll be hack
for the old mans Sunday exercises
or somopin like that.
Gillian and had agreed that she
was 10 have three days 10 buy the
trus~oo. and ! was 10 60 down on the
third day after she left us The first
morniu' after she'd gone ! heard some
one say: Il wonder what's become o
the parson? His cabins deserted. I
prickcd up my ears at this. If he had
suspected the real object Of his daugh-
tiers goin' to Denver and had gone
after her the game was mp. And IL
the game was mp whore was the dust
| had given her? ! tell you / felt on
easy
Before noon I heard one Of the men
say TO another: she sockcd the whole
six. all except me. backed ont nj
the last minute This was too much,
and asked what he was talkin' about
He told me that the gal had taken the
money of five different men 10 buy
trussoo with Her father had likely
joined her. and together they had left
FOR parts unknown
The speaker turned from his story 10
his pan. which he rocked in n melan-
choly fashion. hut presently concluded:
1T all came from seem gal alone
by herself without any other woman
around difted east after that,
where I saw lots Of women together,
and there was hardly one Of 'em that