Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-08

Il would like to tell you story,
Judge Norton" she said. Just all
ordinary story differing little in detail
from many others, but it is from the
viewpoint of a woman and in that 1T
may be interesting.
1T commenced a good many years
ago, this story of a man and woman
ran its way through friendship and
ridicule, but because, although she
cared in a way, it was not enough to
make marriage desirable. The man
went away, but their correspondence
did not take the place of his com.
partnership and each time he returned
she felt she had grown little nearer
to him, but could not bring herself to
let him see what she knew he wished
to know, although he said little. I'M
pulsive as girl, as . woman, circurn.
stances had forced her to hide her
deeper feelings, and she was unable
to give them expression. To all ap-
pearances, she was cold.
The odd part OF the story. your
honor, is, the young woman never
thought the man might change, This
was not vanity. It was her under
standing Of a character that was not
likely to veer from certain establish.
ed trend of mind and thought.
AT first she was sorry this was so,
but as her home life, always difficult,
now became intolerable, she turned to
him, never doubling an immediate
response. Made desperate by condi-
lions she could not bear, she asked
him to come to her. 49,.
h. D,,% 1ot$ hv,t
no reply. Many weeks later, she re-
ceived two or three lines. They told
her he was on his way east. There
was no reference to what she had writ
ten. Just those two or three lines
stating a bold fact. II she had been
in her normal state of mind, your
honor, she would have realized some
thing was wrong She did wonder a
little, but. knowing him to be reserv-
ed, thought he preferred to talk with
her rather than to write. But it hurt
"She watched for him, but the days
passed without further word. Then
a line came to her from his old home.
He had passed her by, the first time
in all the years Of their friendship,
and she was in trouble. Yet SO dulled
was she by wretchedness that even
then she did not doubt him. Though
the hurt went deep she still made ex-
cuses for him. ...
when she finally met him he told
her he was going to Europe. The an
nouncement played into her thought.
She supposed he referred to their 60
ing together She was possessed by
the belief that she was still as neces-
h hn ho1 IN hor
But he left her, left her with scarcely
word of reference to her letter.
Their last evening together was a
nightmare for her to remember. Her
GOODNESS had chilled him, else he
would have spoken. OF this she was
sure. She must tell him plainly she
cared. Then she committed the folly
of her life. She wrote to him. Not
one letter, but several. They were all
love letters. That much she knows.
What she said, she has mercifully for
gotten. But never once did she i'm
CINE she had placed him in difficult
position, Then one day came letter
from Rome.
"She laughed when she read it.
What has come over the man" she
asked herself. When realization came
to her she was numbed. frozen by what
she had done. The thought that she
had told him she cared bit so deeply
into her pride there had to be reac
ton. Not all at once. Such hurts &c
not heal easily, but in the course OF
time she did get over it. Three years
later, their interrupted correspondence
was resumed. 1t came about quite ma
turally. He had been appointed to the
bench and she wrote to congratulate
him. That was several years ago.
LAS Judge, you. yourself, have beer
called upon to decide nice questions
questions where the distinctions are
tsubtle. Was the woman in the
, wrong? She thinks not. But she car
glimpse the mans amazement as he
read those letters; his feelings, tina
even If his actions were confirmatory
Until those last days, she had no RICH
Ito attach Importance to- them until hs