The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1914-11-26
A SCRAP
OF PAPER
A Story For Thanksgiving. :.
-. A..
By RUTH GRAHAM,

Edward Olcott was convalslce1t, and
the morning was q marvel of.1unshipe.
There is delicious feeling ahQqt first
convalescence that fancy is explain.
able from the contrast between suf-
fering and the relief from suffering.
It seemed to Olcott that he was never
so well in his life. and yet It would
have been well nigh impossible tor him
to get out.of the invalid chair A. which
he had been wheeled to the glass In
closed porch Of the hospital.
He had not been there long before
an attendant dropped newspaper'in
his lap. Unfolding it, he noticed some
words written in pencil in woman's
hand on the margin. They read:.
Dear Patient-1 am very sorry for you.
hope you will get comfort from this
paper which intend to, put in the box
at the terminal Of the railroad for pa
pers to go to the hospitals. pity you
especially being confined on account OF
Illness when Thanksgiving, Is coming. on.
Cheer up! On next Thanksgiving. day
trust you will be in condition! to enjoy
a fine Thanksgiving dinner.
This communication to an unknown
dear patient was signed with two mi
tials, E. A. The newspaper was a
weekly issued at place called Edge
water. some twenty miles. from the
city.
"That little note," said Olcott to- him
self, was written by girl. No one
else would have signed her initials.
The place in which she lives is made
up of residences of we'll to do people.
question If In all there are 500 houses.
shall have no difficulty in discovering
who E. A. is, and propose to dine
with her next Thanksgiving. I would
do so this year but for the fact that
there isn't time and couldn't eat
Thanksgiving dinner" 80
Olcott was young man Of means.
The reason why he was at hospital
instead of his own home was twofold
first, he was a bachelor, without a
near relative, and, second, he had been
recommended by his physician to go
to a hospital as the most convenient
place in which to be i'll. Possibly in
his convalescent state he was especial
ly impressible. Be that Us it may, he
read the paper that had been given
him, cOnjuring up visions Of the per-
son who wrote the message on the
margin. When he had finished the pa
per's perusal he tore off the message
for preservation and future use. =
Olcott was at an age when an ap-
probation for the pleasures of social
life begins to lose its edge. When he
was twenty he fancied that he was
courted because of his attractiveness.
Now that he was twenty-seven he had
come to understand that he was court:
ed principally for what his incomgier
resented. He had not lived at Home
since the death Of his mother, when be
was nineteen. His illness, DURING
which he had been under the care OF
paid nurses, had made him sensible Of
what might be the tender solicitude of
one who loved him. Sundry young
ladies he had met in society had en-
deavored to make it appear to him
that they appreciated him for himself,
but he believed that any other man
who could give them a home would
do as well.
For these reasons he was attracted
to this person who had heart to take
in an unknown person in a hospital
from whom there was scarcely a pos
sibility that she could derive any bene-
fit. So :.
She might possibly be old and home.
~, but he did not believe she was.
At any rate. as soon as he was dis.
charged from the hospital he proposed
to hunt her up-that Is, If she lived in
Edgewater. If not, there was not
much hope Of finding her.
When the next Thanksgiving season
came round Olcott had made the ac-
quaintance Of Miss Edith Arnold of
Edgewater and had proved by secur-
ing specimen of her handwriting
that she was the person who had con-
tributed the newspaper that he had
read as convalescent. There had
been no great difficulty in this. All he
had to do was to 60 to Edgewater,
join club there. consisting of young
men and women, make the acquaint-
ance Of the residents and look out for
a girl whose initials were q. A.
Miss Arnold was, as he had supposed,
very young. She was barely eighteen.
Olcott paid her great deal Of atten-
ton, at which she was naturally Hat
tered. He discovered that her heart
was as tender for the afflicted as he
had supposed. and It was not long be-
fore he had won that heart for him
self.
All this while he had the pencil mes
sage that he had torn from the news
paper in his portmanteau. But he said
nothing about it to Miss Arnold, who
supposed that their meeting had soc-
Cured by chance. Olcott had resolved
when In the hospital that he would eat
his next Thanksgiving dinner with hse,
and he was working up to that point
This. too. was very easy. for 1sw
weeks before Thanksgiving he asked
her to be bis wife, and she acceptsd
bis proposition. Under the circurn.
stances It was quite IN .onder, thatia e
should be invited to take his Thanks-
| o4v{uo S10~sn.. -