The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-07-20
A PRINCESS
CHOICE
By RUTH GRAHAM

There was once king who governe
land so rich and was so powerful
that an alliance with his family wa
considered desirable by all the othe
potentates. The king had one child,
daughter, who was of a marriageabl
age, but up TO the time she was TWEEN
~ years of age she had been KEEP
away from the outside world. shut vi
IN a wing Of the palace. No one hat
even seen her excepting her family
and a limited suit Of attendants.
On her twentieth birthday her IA
Their sent a letter TO several neighbor
ing monarchs stating that his daugh
ter would correspond with any man OF
royal blood suitable to become her hus,
band and that she would marry some
one Of these correspondents. provided
he was willing to marry her. He was
not to see her till after he had been
selected for her consort, and II after
seeing her he was not minded TO mar
ry her he would be excused from do
ing so.
A number Of princes entered the lists
and wrote letters to the princess. Most
of them eIpatiated upon her beauty,
which they had never seen, comparing
her to the full moon, to a fountain
flashing In the sunlight, to the fairest
flower that had ever grown upon the
earth.
There was one correspondent, sign
Ing himself Carolus. who did not refer
to any physical beauty that the prin-
cess might possess or to other attri-
butes, such as modesty, good sense or
q kind heart He wrote of such
traits as he would value In wife.
'If you possess these" he added, "you
are a treasure TO any man, but no man
Is worthy Of you"
The princess threw the letters from
those who 1attered without having
seen her into the wastebasket, but she
was touched by the one from this man
who valued mental rather than phys
ical traits. She replied to his epistle.
stating that she was most affected by
his placing a high value on a sympa-
thetic heart. She desired a husband
who would be sympathetic with her.
rs she would sympathize with him.
Prince Carolus believed he had
struck the chord that would win him
the princess So he wrote her second
epistle expatiating upon tenderness
Of heart, exalting It above all other
virtues. He was sure that II he mar
ried her he would feel for her in all
her troubles-for even royal persons
have them-and he had no doubt that
she would respond In kind
The princess was about to invite
Prince Carolus to an interview when
/ letter came from another royal per- |
sonage who signed himself Alanthus.
Alanthus said that, while he would ,
gladly become the husband of a prtn-
,ess who would inherit kingdom, he
must know before he entered the lists
or her hand what drawbacks there
night be concerning her He suspect
d from the fact that sutton would
lot be permitted to see her that there
vas some physical blemish about her.
should such be the case any man who
hould meet her as sutton would be
placed in an embarrassing position.
l refusal to marry her after seeing
Ter would put slight upon her. Alan
hus would not care to be placed in
UGH a position. If she would assure
lin that there was no physical blight
Ipon her he would then write her
1atf nnA he -
o hesitate.
Soon after Carolus had sent his let
err to the princess he received a por-
raft of a young woman, one-half of
those face was covered with a mark
d Disagreement 1t was q red and
urple birthmark. Carolus naturally
lferred that 1t was a likeness Of the
rincess. 1t ended the correspondence
etween them, for he never wrote
er again. That sympathy for the I'M
ortunate which he had spoken of so
fusively did not stand the test to
hitch 1t had been put.
Alanthus also received q portrait, 1t v
epresented woman neither beautiful
or homey. though the face was not !
evoid of character. He, too, inferred .
lat he had been sent likeness of the
rincess. When he had made up his I
ind what to do In the matter he c
rote her letter stating that he had
.ceived a portrait which he presumed i
J be hers, that he had been favorably n
oppressed with it and suggested that "
icy meet and get acquainted.
The princess replied that they would c
,tter correspond for awhile before fl
Getting in order to learn of each 9TH
IS good. bad or Indifferent qualities. fl
For several months they wrote each b
her, and then the princess sent a
lief note stating that she had learned g
1t one thing about her suitor. He k
ID shown himself true man In de-
ming to put himself in a position to