The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1917-05-29

A Story of Romance Ver-
sus the Practical.
BY ALAN BINSDALE

SWreN@vetNT'sSe'T'tS't7'
OF all the girls of our bunch / pre-
. ferred Gwen Meriweather. Gwen hat
character stamped In her face as plain
ly as the word may be printed. Blu
she was, or seemed to me to be, devoit
of sentiment i was full of 1t. | fel
In love with her, and since she was de
void of what was born In me l endow
ed her with it, For this purpose hat
plenty of Imagination and succeeded IL
covering her with an ideality whicl
she did not possess.
1t is said, and | believe it, that op
posites are readily attracted to eacf
other. At any rate, Gwen and | pair
ed off. 1t was not long before | was
making love at high pressure. Gwen
did not seem averse to listening to my
rhapsodies, but she made no return IL
kind. Besides, she showed her matter.
of-factness In other ways For in.
stance, ! gave her book rack, hand
somely inlaid, one of those con.
trivances to put on a stand to hold q
dozen or 80 choice books. Not long
afterward her little brother knocked
1t off the stand and broke 1t. | told
Gwen that / would have 1t mended
for her. She said that it would cost
more to mend 1t than II would be
worth.
This reply was great shock to me.
l had supposed that the gift, coming
from me, would be of inexpressible
value to her Gwen looking at 1t in n
pecuniary way rather than prizing 1t
as an expression Of my tender feelings
for her seemed to me to be barbarous.
I made no complaint. / simply went
OFF and nursed my wound.
When / entered seriously with Gwen
into discussion of future together
she again threw damper on me. She
poo-poohed my talk about love In
cottage-poverty she called it-and
brought up many objections to
by my romance that nothing seemed to
stand In the way of our union. | told
her that with love In our hearts OBJ
jections were of no moment whatever.
Her reply was, when poverty comes
IN ut the door love flies out of the win
dow"
This was all the more chilling to me
because there were no important world
Iy reasons why Gwen and I should not
be married. l was in receipt of an in
come on property to enable us to live
l had, besides, good
salary and was advancing as rapidly
as was to be expected. / have noticed
that women have way of saying one
thing and meaning another. Ovens
real objection to marrying me came out
in good time. She saw plainly that l
had set her upon pedestal as an OBJ
ject of worship, and she feared that |
when the time came-as 1t inevitably |
must come-for taking down the gilded
Image and putting up one Of flesh and
blood my love would not prove to be
Of the kind to endure the change.
This was the way Gwen expressed
It to me: You have mistaken me-"
she said. You consider me generous,
lnseltish, On the contrary, / am mean
and never give anything away that /
want myself. Besides i have traits,
from my ancestors, that
would turn any man from me whose
ove was OF the most substantial kind"
l was bit staggered by this confes-
sion, but not for long. My optimistic
disposition rose above fear that would
lot love Gwen even il she were all she
painted herself, and l told her so in
most impassioned words, at the same
lime lavishing upon her an abundance
If caresseS. But she disengaged her
ielf from me, avowing that at the first
sign OF real fault in her my caresses
would turn to expressions of contempt
one day when Gwen and | were
together we came to fruit
stand kept by poor woman who was
evidently obliged to keep her little
'hild with her while selling her goods.
iWen took fancy to some apples and
asked the woman their price. Instead
If paying II Gwen endeavored to beat
he vendor down and, failing to do 80,
walked ON without buying. | was 80
illed with commiseration for woman
whose sphere in life condemned her to
make her living In such an humble
way, especially as she was obliged TO
,eep hungry looking child with her
While doing 40, that would have been
Had to pay double the price she asked
or her apples
l said nothing to Gwen about the
natter then, but l thought great
eal. After all, was she not right in
sserting that after we were married
er faults would come up to make trou-
lie between us? She had said that she
vas very mean and when time came
ad not scrupled TO show that mean
ess' While ] was repelled at her
ault, could not but admire her frank
ess and her wisdom at hesitating 10
larry a man who was ignorant Of II.
Gwen and | were invited to spend a
ouple of weeks In midsummer at the
ountry residence OF friend Of hers.
wen and Miss Emily Tucker had been
and did not doubt that
liss Tucker possessed my flancee's con.
dence 70 far greater degree than /
III, for II there are two persons In
10 world who are bent on withholding