The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1917-01-19
HOW | MET
MY WIFE
By F. A. mitchell

iii'i1 hditu Ou opening
1t found a card bearing the name anu
address of Miss Aida cambridge.
VINO Miss BainbIidge was | did not
know. | fancied that she was some
young lady whom l had met and asked
TO let me know when she visited the
city where lived One thing must
be careful about. If l did not recog
ME her when we met must skirmish
to place her, not letting her know that
L Gid not remember her.
When l called on Miss Bainbridge
she was not at home. l left my card
ana 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 sc
long We had passed that pleasant sum
mer together at Shelton Springs
| Doubtless We had both greatly chang
ed since then.
l had passed a summer at Shelton
Springs when l. was seventeen years
! OF age. | was then beardlcss boy
and was now man of twenty-five
with soft beard of which was quite
proud. / had met number of young
girls there, but had forgotten the
names of most of them.
The next time | called young lady
came into the room with whose ap
pearance l was especially pleased. She
looked at me QuiZzically, as though not
quite certain as to my identity. l had
no remembrance of her whatever, but
controlling my facial expression, clasp
ed her prOffered hand in both of mine
saying:
What a pleasure to meet again one
with whom | 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
have the same girlish Eace and figure.
You certainly have not lost anything
of your beauty"
There was a slight pleasurable blush
at this.
Have you been to Shelton Springs >
I asked, "since that happy summer we
passed together there?'
ooh, yes. we haze been there every
summer for ten years"
rs 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. viii h she continued to toy
with. She raised her eyes to mine
with quick glance, then lowered then!
again. l had done lot Of SpooniEg
on that bench. and her action on my
mentioning it convinced me that l had
made love to her there.
Il dare say l said, you have for
gotten our sitting there and all about
it."
81 am surprised that you remem-
Der it,
"Why?"
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 l not been desperately stricken
with Miss Bainbridge l might have
replied eyasively. AS it was, l told
her that l felt the sanle-Only more So
as l felt at that momentous inter
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 We're of very long
duration.
While / had no remembrance what
ever Of Miss cambridge, certainly
developed a case of quick love. call
ed upon her several times 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 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 a few weeks after our return
from the honeymoon, when returned
from business in the evening, / found
my wife had locked herself in hei
room. With difficulty l persuaded her
to admit me and saw that something
dreadful had happened. When ask.
ed what it was she burst into tears
and pointed to a card on her dresser
1t bore the name Of Alfred Jones.
Alfred Jones is not my name. l saw
at once that the fellow who had sat Oh
the bench with Aida had turned up.
When a woman has loved a man fol
years and then married another think
ing that other to be her real simon
pure love, it is a difficult matter tC
get her over the shock. But l had ar