The Dickinson press., 1914-01-17
THE MESSAGE
IN THE BOTTLE
4 Romance That Began In a
Most Unusual Way.

"You are acting like a ninny, sir. l
am; very much disappoited in you"
The words were spoken by old Mar.
shall Humphrey to his son Joe, who
had reached the age Of twenty-five,
which his father considered ample to
show that he was exactly what that
father wished him to be. And what
his father wished him to be was this:
First, he should be devoted to business
and predisposed to carry on the con
Germ his father had built up; second,
he should marry and bring forth a son;
through whom all this growth Of
wealth could be transmitted To the
old mans ,chagrin, the boy would
have nothing to do with the business
and showed every symptom Of becom-
Ing a confirmed bachelor. Since he
was an only child he vas old Mr.. Hum
phrey's sole hope.
Joe Humphrey. matrimonially ON
stdered, was like a wild animal that
needs to be caught and trained, after
which it loves it's master devotedly.
Leaving his. father to nurse his dis
appointment, he went to his boathouse,
intending to have a pull in his boat
on the river. Just as he was about
to embark he saw something red
dancing on the wavelets among some
PUSHES near by. Getting into the boat,
he gave a couple OF strokes, seized the
red thing and drew out a bottle Of
pickles, as he supposed, the red thing
being sealing wax covering the cork.
1t was a pickle bottle, but no pickles.
Breaking the seal, he shook out a card,
on which was written, "Irma Whiting,
aged eighteen years, six months and
twenty days" Tackled to the card with
q bit of thread was a lock Of auburn
hair in circular form. Below this was
the address.
There was nothing to explain why
the articles had been placed in the
bottle. If there. had been there would
|Sbe no story. Nature has laid a num-
Der of traps to insure the propagation
lsof the human species, but the n she
keeps for a starter in difficult cases Is
curiosity. BY. this she excites atten-
Etion, which is held and enlarged by
romance. In this case the starter was
Miss Writings card floating in a bot
tie without a a given. The in
terest it excited was enhanced by the
Tlittle circlet Of hair.
Joe Humphrey pulled to the shade Of
tSsome trees overhanging5 the river bank
land, with the card in his hand. gave
himself up to wonder. What did the
girl want anyway? What was she
like? He had bad girls in dozens
|ssthroWn at him by designing mothers
( switheut feeling anything but. repug-
( anance:. There. was neither curiosity
fndr romance, and above all was want
ing the excitement of the chase. II
this girl was angling for a lover it was
not him especially.
He pulled back to the boathouse.
climbed to a furnished upper room.
where he kept writing Materials and
fnclosed the card with his own, on
which he wrote: "Picked up this -
day Of 19o-'Cast your bread on
the waters. and it shall be returned
to yon an hundredfold.'H"
Undue time eareceived a duplicate
card with the inscription, Better one
gold dollar than a hundred copper pen
Mes .@5.
His reply: mo puny gold dollar rep.
resents the writer. He may rather be
E1fkened to a big silver coin. Your
circ1et Of golden hair may have sug-
gested your smile"
Hersreply: tits all the gold l have"
His reply: IT have only a heart Of
oak.
That was the beginning of the. end.
The correspondence went on, Miss
Whiting finally explaining that she
was a poor girl with a stepmother and
no onesto love her. She had sent her
card adrift hoping that it might change
her life and make it happier. Supple.
mentary to this Humphrey Informed
her that he was a poet whose verses
were too far above the market to be
acceptable to publishers. but he thought
that together they might be happy in
each Others love in a cottage and
asked permission to call. It was grant
ed. andhe met the girl In a small
house on a country road. She. was
dressedEin calico. and he wore a wool
en- shirt under a threadbare suit
There vas a{courtship.
One daysMis Whiting told him that
she had been playing a part She did
not live ih the house where she re-
ceived him. She was rich and had