Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1915-12-27
By F. A. mitchell

ty-SlX she was not only harder to
please, but had fewer eligible men to
choose from. Then she woke UP one
morning to find herself an old maid.
She did not like the prospect before
her. She declined to accept it. She
set her jaws and resolved that she
would marry for home and children.
She did not agree with the poet that
knowledge comes, but wisdom lin.
gers" She believed she could select
a partner who would fulfill all the
conditions Of desirable husband. AS
for romance, bah! Had she not been
very nearly In love with Charlie Ash.
urst, who had afterward gone to the
bad? She had been engaged to Tom
Chester, who was now fat, baldhead.
ed pig, Her mother had interposed be.
tween her and Jimmie Ludlow. who
had married and had been divorced for
cruelty, well established. This was
or had been romance. No more of it
for her. She wanted man who would
80 to business In the morning, return
In the evening and not bother her for
those little attentions husbands usual.
ly desire. She would lavish her affec.
tion on the children.
She met a man few years her sen.
ior who seemed to fiji the bill. On
meeting her lie seemed interested I'm
her. He did very little talking, but
was a first rate listener. So far as
she could discover there was not a
spark Of romance in him. She deter
mined to marry him If she could.
Realizing that the coquettish ways of
a girl In her teens would not avail her
now, she tried to make herself accept
able to him as companion. She
talked sensibly, acted sensibly. She
admitted that she had made a mistake
In not marrying when younger and
would like to rectify the error before
1t was too late. Any time was time
enough for home, but would soon be
too late for children. She also init.
mated that the man she wanted was
one who would make her comfortable.
Love after marriage, she had heard
married persons say, was, after all,
but an intensified companionship.
He neither assented nor dissented
from this. He looked at her curiously
while she was saying 1t, and she won
dered what he was thinking about
Perhaps 1t was his reticence and her
own curiosity that gave her an inter
est in him, the strength of which she
did not realize She noticed that,
though he said very little, what he did
say inspired confidence. After an even.
ing spent in his company she felt her
inferiority. He paid her few cOmpli-
ments, but when he did praise her
she felt that he meant 1t and she de-
served 1t.
Notwithstanding that they were much
together and she had admitted that
she wished to marry, he did not pro-
pose Either he was obtuse or he
preferred to remain Il bachelor. New
ertheless his visits increased in fIe-
quency, and at last he was with her
every other evening. Finally he said |
to her:
"Your philosophy has converted me.
A marriage based Oh common sense |
Is worth dozen with no other fOun- |
dation than infatuation. That's what |
1t is, lnfatuation. Like you, | wish to
marry for home and children"
ITS coming at last" she said to
herself.
"At my time of life | look for the
woman who is most likely to make my
home comfortable | have been con-
sidering two women-not that | have
any assurance that | can get either
yourself and another. think the 9th.
er will make me the more comfortable,
though she is not as attractive as you"
This was too much for her philoso-
ply She looked at him, trying to find
voice to make a reply, but feared to
betray herself by a quivering lip.
II would like you TO meet my tiancee,"
he continued. "She is not intellectual,
but practical. One thing about her
that has gone far to decide me in her
favor is that she is an excellent cook"
At last she found voice to speak.
"Your words are positively brutal"
He burst into laugh, at the same
time taking her into his arms
'"Am | more brutal" he said. than
the girl who drove Fred Jones to at
tempt suicide?"
Fired Jonesr
"Yes. | am that Fred Jones whom
you lured to proposal eleven years
ago and who left you to jump into a
river, from which he was unwillngly
rescued. He recovered from a desire
to Gil himself with dirty water, but
has never recovered from his love of
the dear girl who sent him forth that
night to-
Heavens" she interrupted. 81 can
remember good many of them. but
| can't recall any one by the name of
Jones'"
ut doesn't matter. The age of 70.
nance with us has passed. We need
each other now. In our youth we
didn't: the world was ours"
They were married. and every one
said, what lackadaisical coupler u