Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-04-09
Evening Story
THEY WE'RE VERY PRlM.
BY Clara lnez Deacon
Copyright 1912 by the Associated Lit
erary Press.

| Mr. Gerald Rochester was man O
twenty.seven and very prim--very.
| Miss Agnes Frayne was a young wo
man of twenty-five, and very prim-
very.
! No mistake must be made between
prig and prim. The terms are no.
| synomous These two people could
have been prgs just as well as not
but they were't They were merely
prim--very prim. They were borr
that way and couldn't help it. Mr.
| Rochester was bookkeeper in a saw
ings bank, and there was no rule
| against his being rather jolly in con
versation and bit carless about his
neckties, but after five years had some
by no one could recall that he had ever
forgotten himself for single moment
Even during memorable run on the
bank he had been prim, although some
of the officers used reckless language
and had taken their coats off. All hon
or to Mr.. Rochester! Let man be one
thing or the other-prim or unprim.
Miss Frayne had also been porn
prim. AS a girl she had never skated
on the sidewalk, slid down hill or chas
ed a bad boy around the block. AT
eighteen she might have had a beau
but she kept her modest eyes on her
toes and discouraged him. After three
years more no one on earth could have
got her to climb tree, even to rescue
her lost canary bird. She was in the
millinery business. Some of her pat
rons thought her rather too prim. but
others said it was better so than to
fine her Ginning with a half dozen
drunmers at once At any rate what
was said for or against made no dit.
ference. Miss Agnes went right along
with her primness. All honor to her,
also.
Mr.. Rochester and Miss Frayne had
to take the same electric car to get
to and from their work. They had Of.
ten noticed each other-not in bold
faced way. but a prim way. They had
not been introduced, and what could
they do but sit side by side and stare
out Of the opposite windows. On one
occasion the car crashed into too
confident milk wagon and scattered
broken glass and splinters of wood
about, and the milkman got broken
leg and his horse broken neck. There
was quite panic, with shouts and
screams and questions, but amid all
the alarm the two prims never lost
.thier primness. They scarcely turned
their eyes from the straight line. They
wei not complimented by the other
passengers. A man asked Mr.. Roches-
ter if he was human beer bottle and
woman asked Miss Frayne if she had
a human heart, but there was the sat
isfection Of realizing that they had pre-
served the proper form.
Again. while a fat man was look.
ing for lost dime on the car tracks
he was picked up and hurled over the
fence, and there was ripple of laugh
ter from the passengers at the way
he spread-eagled himself. All the pas
sengers but two joined in the laugh
ter. Those two never uttered haw!
haW! Their primness caused man to
ask Mr. Rochester if even the death OF
his mother-in-law could fetch a smile
to his frozen face, but it was an i'm
pertinent query and he did right to
ignore it. A woman passenger also
had a remark to make. After signing
a long sigh she shook her head and
said:
Il have been told that the hyena
has no sense of humor, and now l see
it's true!"
This primness had gone on wear
and q day. The day is mentionc be-
cause both the bookkeeper and the mil
line, had recorded it in their diaries,
and the little books agreed. Twice a
day for year>and day and they had
not spoken! They were waiting for the
introduction that never came. Even
an introduction would not have swept
the primness aside for more weeks
There would have been questions to
ask and answer.
There must be climax to all things
One winters day when the weather bu
reau bespoke fair skies with it's usual
confidence, it rained.
The wind came down from Hudson s
bay and froze the drops as they fell
At home going time the streets were
aglare Neither Mr. Rochester nor
Miss Frayne were shod for the fray
They aid manage to get to the car
and all the way out they sat wonder.
ing how they could get to their homes
from the terminus. They were the
only passengers when the car slid to
the end of the track, and the conductor