Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1917-02-16
HOW | MET
MY WIFE
By F. A. Mitchell

the Office and asked for my mail. The
clerk handed me some letters, among
which was a tiny missive addressed to
me in femiHine hand. On opening
it found a card bearing the name and
address of Miss Aida cambridge.
Who Miss Bainbridge was / did not
know. l fancied that she was some
young lady whom had met and asked
to let me know when she visited the
city where l lived. One thing | must
be careful about. If l did not recOg-
niZe her when we met l must skirmish
to place her. not letting her know that
did not remember her.
When l called on Miss cambridge
she was not at home. l left my card
and the next morning received a note
from her regretting that she had miss
ed me and would be pleased to have
me call again. She was not sure that
l would remember her since it was so
long we had passed that pleasant sum-
mer together at Shelton Springs
Doubtless we had both greatly chang
ed since then.
| | had passed a summer at Shelton
Springs when l was seventeen years
of age l was then a beardless boy
and was now man OF twenty-five
with a soft beard Of which 1 was quite
proud. l had met a number of young
girls there, but had forgotten the
names of most of them.
The next time l called young lady
came into tue room with whose APP
pearance l was especially pleased. She
looked at me quizzically, as though not
quite certain as to my identity. 1 had
no remembrance of her whatever, but,
controlling my facial expression, clasp
ed her proffered hand in both of mine,
saying:
"What pleasure to meet again one
with whom 1 passed so many happy
hours"
"But-but you have changed aw-
fully"
"Awfully?"
81 mean very much. You have de-
veloped into quite a man. l should
never have recognized you if l had
not known who you were"
'You, too, have developed, but you
IdNG luG SdlilS II l4oLl AGlSS 'NtAANA AS7N4AS ~
You certainly have not lost anything
of your beauty"
There was slight pleasurable blush
at this.
'IIave you been to shelton Springs"
1 asked, "since that happy summer we
passed together there?"
ooh, yes, we have been there every
summer for ten years"
"Is the bench still under the tree
beside the creek?'
l was looking her in the face when
asked this question, she down at
my card, which she continued to toy
with She raised her eyes to mine
with quick glance, then lowered them
again. 1 had done lot Of spooning
on that bench, and her action on my
mentioning it convinced me that l had
made love to her there.
II iare say" l said, you have for
gotten our sitting there and all about
it."
81 am surprised that you remem-
Der it."
"WhyP
"Oh, you men are very forgetful
It's five years since that evening. You
left the next day and have never seen
me since. Doubtless you have sat on
benches since beside other girls and
said what you said to me-"
Had / not been desperately stricken
with Miss cambridge l might have
replied evasively. AS it was, told
her that 1 felt the same-only more 50
Qol khnA toms fTNt0
; view. When she asked me why she
had never heard from me in the mean
while / called her attention to the fact
that l was then a boy and she was a
chit of a girl. What business had we
to follow up that which led straight to
marriage? She saw no improperly
in two youngsters loving. Engage
ments sometimes were of very long
duration.
While l had no remembrance what
ever of Miss cambridge, 1 certainly
developed case of quick love. 1 call
ed upon her several times a week
that is, when l was not taking her out
to amusements. She was making a
, visit to friends, which she prolonged,
and when she departed we were en-
gagged. Then she confessed that she
had cherished her girlish love for me
; ever since that evening we had sat on
the bench together at Shelton Springs.
OF course it would not do for me to
confess that I had no remembrance of
} sitting there with her any more than
with several other girls, so kept my
own counsel.
In due time we were married. One
day, only few weeks after our return
from the honeymoon, when l returned
from business in the evening, l found
my wife had locked herself in her
room. With difficulty persuaded her
to admit me and saw that something
dreadful had happened. When 1 ask
ed what it was she burst into tears
and pointed to card on her dresser.
1t bore the name of Alfred Jones.
Alfred Jones is not my name. I saw
at once that the fellow who had sat on
} the bench with Aida had turned up.
: When a woman has loved a man for
, years and then married another think
AN.,,A