Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-07-30
LADY CHANGED
HER MIND
Romance of Harvest Time
That Ended ProsaicaIIy.

4 grandma" said a little girl to whom
her grandmother had been telling sto-
ries.
oh, yes. There are romances in the
| lives of all of us
We'll, grandma, tell me yours"
Let me see. was but eighteen
when my father-your great-grandfa-
ther. you knOw-hired farm hand
who came along just at the beginning
OF the harvest season. l will call him
Elisha. We girls used to help get in
the grain in those days, and sometimes
| used to go out and help on purpose
to be with Elisha. He was two years
older than /, and l considered him very
handsome. l was at that age when IL
| girls heart goes out naturally, and
mine went out to Elisha
"One evening about sunset when we
were alone together among the wheat
we sat down on a pile of sheafS to
talk Elisha put his arm around me
and kissed me. Then he told me he
loved me, and l told him loved him.
II was too young-at any rate, too
unsophisticated-to know the next
thing to be done which was for Elisha
to go to my father and ask for me. He
didn't do this, but when the first natu-
raj Outpouring of love was over asked
him if l should say anything about our
affair to father or mother He told
me to say nothing at present.
Il waited, no one but Elisha and l
knowing what was between us. till the
harvest was all in and my lover was
paid off. That day he took me off
where we would be alone and said to
me:
"'Your father wouldn't think of Civ
ing you to me. haven't cent in the
world. We must wait. I'll try during
the next few years to get start; then
l will come back and ask for you
my heart stood still. How could l
wait several years for him to come
back to me? Each year would seem
century. In three years | would be
twenty-one, and that seemed to me
then to mark girl as an old maid.
But there was nothing to be done so
l said goodby to Elisha. and he went
away.
There was IL farmer near us who
stood very high in the community. He
was but twenty eight years old. and
yet he had been in the legislature of
the state. He seemed to me to be a
hundred years old. He used to come to
our place and talk with father about
things that | didn't understand-tartf
and free trade, raising money to build
railroads to take our grain to market
and all that.
"When we were all in the living
room in the evening. and father ana
Mr.. Baxter, I'll call him, were talking
about these things and the slavery
question in the south and the troubles
in Kansas, | used to sit at my needle
work and wonder what they meant
for didn't understand Il word of it all
''Then one day father surprised me
by telling me that Mr.. Baxter had pro
posed for me, and father hoped | would
accept him since the match would BE-
such a good one for me-
"ISn't that funny way to propose
for girl?' | asked. 4 supposed the
lover proposed to the girl instead OF
her father
1.-The most honorable way is to ask
permission of her father to speak to
her
"All this was too formal. too unnat-
ural for me | told father that | would
not have Mr.. Baxter; he was alto
gether too old for me- And when father
said he was Just the right age | re
piled that he seemed too old anyway.
Father was obliged to tell Mr.. RaX
ter that | wouldn't have him, and Mr.
Baxter only said that he was very sor-
ry, but he wouldn't think of permitting
the least influence to be brought to
bear on me to induce me to accept him
] didn't tell any one that my heart had
been given to Il farm hand Indeed.
didn't dare tell | couldn't have braved
fathers anger and contempt. | ground
my teeth together and resolved to wait
for Elisha. | waited two years. and he
didn't come waited two years more
Meanwhile Mr. Baxter had been away
much of the time He had been elect
ed to congress. Then | heard father
say that he was sure Of the nomination
for governor
This didn't interest me | didn't
care if he was president. What |
wanted was that which would satisfy
the cravings Of my heart-l wanted
Elisha
1T was five years after Elisha had
gone away and three after Mr.. Baxter
had proposed for me that l saw one
morning when l was standing on the
porch a man coming down the rond.
His clothes We're city cut though not
fashionable He stopped ut the gate
and asked me how far it was to Boon
ton. told him. and he said, You don't
seem to remember me- No; | don't
replied Sorry; | thought you would
4 suspicion came to me when he said
this that he was Elisha. dreaded lest
he was, for somehow | didn't like his
looks | can't tell you what there was
about him didn't fancy; ii was every