Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1917-02-15


So It seemed to point towards matri
mony again.
Say, Jonathan, you certainly have
y wonderful gift for interpretin' Scrip.
| ture."
"well. Scripture or no Scripture.
] want you Hepsey."
Am I to understand that you're just
fadin' and pinin' away for love Of me!
You don't look thin.''
"oh, we 'aint neither Of us young
as we once was, Hepsey. OF course
can't be expected to pine real hard"
"Fm afraid it, not the real thing,
Jonathan unless you pine. Don't It
keep you awake nights, or take away
your appetite, Or make you want to
play the banjo, or nothin'f'
"No, Hepsey; to tell you the plain
truth, 1t don't. But feel awful lone.
pome, and like you q whole lot, and
II love you as much as anyone, 1
guess"
$50 you're in love are you, Jonathan.
Then let me give you some good ad-
vice. When you're in love, don't be.
lieve all you think, or half you feel,
or anything at all you are perfectly
sure of. It's dangerous business. But
| l am afraid that you're askin' me be.
cause it makes you think that you are
young and giddy, like the rest of the
village boys, to be proposin' to shy
young thing like me-"
"No, Hepsey; you aren't no shy
young thing, and you haven't been
for nigh on forty years. wouldn't be
proposin' to you if you WERE"
Jonathan your manners need mend
in whole lot. The idea of insinuat-
I'm ashamed of you, and I'm positive
we could never get along together"
"But l can't tell a lie about you,
| even if do want to marry you. You
don't want to marry a liar do you?"
"Well, the fact is, Jonathan, polite
| lyin's the real foundation of all good
| manners. What We'll ever do when
| we get to heaven where We have To
tell the truth whether We want to or
hot, I'm sure l don't know. It'll be av
| full uncomfortable until we get used
| to it."
| "The law says you should tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the TRUTH" persisted the literal
wooer.
| "Now, see here, Jonathan. Would
you say that a dogs tail was false and
lnisleadin' just because it isn't the
| whole dog?
This proposition was exceedingly
confusing to Jonathans intelligence,
but after careful consideration he felt
obliged to say mo"
| "Of course you wouldn't" Mrs.
Burke continued triumphantly, quick
ly following up her advantage. You
see dogs tail couldn't be misleadin'
cause the dog leads the tail, and not
the tail the dog. Any fool could see
that
| Jonathan felt that he had been
| tlicked, although he could not see just
low the thing had been accomplished;
so he began again:
"Now Hepsey, we're wanderin' from
the point, and you're just talkin to
amuse yourself Can't you come down
to business? Here l am a widower,
and here you are a widowess, and
we're both lonesome, and We"
"Who told you l was lonesome. I'd
like to know"
well, of course you didn't, cause
you never tell anything to anyone. But
1 guessed you was sometimes, from
the looks OF YOU"
Hepsey bent her head over her work
and counted stitches long time be-
fore she looked up. Then she re.
marked slowly:
There's an awful lot of sick people
N the world, and I'm mighty sorry fol
'em; but they'll die, or they'll get well
| guess Pm more sorry for people whit
have to go on livn', and workin' hard
when they're just dyin' for somebody
10 love 'em, and somebody to love
until the pain of it hurts like a wis
dom tooth. No, l can't afford to be
lonesome much, and that's a fact. Sc
just keep busy, and il get too lone
| ooiheb Juot So anu Joiy ooihSpouJ
that's lonesomer than / am, and WI
both feel better; and If 1 get lionel,
lynn awake at night, l light a lamI
and read Webster's Dictionary. Try /
Jonathan; it's a 81 e anti-doubt."
"There you go again tryin' 10 change
the subject, just when thought yo,
was goin' to say somethin'."
But you don't really want to mar
ry me. I'm not young, and Pm no
ilterestin': one or the other You've
just got to be-"
You're mighty interestin' to me
Hepsey, anyway; and-and you'.'
mighty unselfish.''
"Well, you needn't throw that
my face; Pm not to blame for bel!
unselfish. I've just had to be. wheti
er l wanted to or not. It's my misft'
tune not my fault. Lots of people III