The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1917-08-31
A PRINCESS
CHOICE
BY RUTH GRAHAM


notentates The king had one child,
daughter, who was of Il marriageable
age, but up to the time she was twen-
ty years of age she had been kept
away from the outside world, shut up
in a wing of the palace. No one had
even seen her excepting her family
and li1itcd suit of attendants.
On her twentieth birthday her IA
ther sent a letter to several nelghbor-
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. lie was
not to see her till after he had been
selected for her consort. and If after
seeing her he was not minded to mar
~ her lie would be excused from do
ing so.
A number of princes entered the lists
and wrote letters to the princess. Most
Of them eXpatiated 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-
butcs, such as modcsty, good sense or
kind heart. He wrote of such
traits as he would value in wife.
'If you possess these" he added, "you
are treasure to any man, but no man
is worthy of YOU
The princess threw the letters from
those who hattcrcd without having
seen her into the wastebasket, but she
was touched blythe 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-
thctic heart She desired n husband
who would be sympathetic with her.
as she would sympathize with him.
Prince Carolus believed he had
struck the chord that would win him
the princess. SO he wrote her a second
cpistle cXpatiating upon tenderness
OF heart, cxaltng it above all other
virtues. He was sure that if he mar
riCd her he would feel for her in all
her troublcs-fOr even royal persons
have thcm-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-
sonagc who signed himself Alanthus.
Alanthus said that, while he would
gladly become the husband of prin-
cess who would inherit kingdom, he
must know before he entered the lists
for her hand what drawbacks there
might be concerning her. He suspect
ed from the fact that a suitor would
not be permitted to see her that there
wa3 some physical blemish about her.
Should such be the case any man who
should meet her as Il suitor would be
placed in an embarrassing position.
A refusal to marry her after seeing
her would put n slight upon her. Alan
thus would not care to be placed in
such II position. If she would assure
him that there was no physical blight
upon her ne would then write her
again. Ih& letter caused the princess
TO hesitate.
Soon after Carolus had sent his let
fer TO the princess he received por-
trQ!t Of IL young woman, one-half of
whose face was covered with mark
"a disligurcment. 1t was Il red and
purple Dirthmark. Carolus naturally
!plcrrCd that it was II likeness of the
princess, 1t ended the correspondence
between them, for he never wrote
her again. That sympathy for the un.
fortunate which he had spoken of so
cffusivcly did not stand the test to
which it had been put.
Alanthus also received n portrait. 1t
represented n woman neither beautiful
nor homcly, though the face was not
devoid of character. Hc, too, inferred
| that he had been sent likeness of the
princess. When he had made up his
mind what to do In the matter he
wrote her letter stating that he had
received n portrait which he presumed
to be hers, that he had been favorably
impressed with it and suggested that
they meet and get acquainted
The princess replied that they would
better correspond for awhile before
meeting in order to learn of each 9th
cr's good, bad or Indifferent qualities.
For several months they wrote each
other and then the princess sent n
brief note stating that she had learned
but one thing about her suitor, He
had shown himself true man In de-
clining TO put himself in a position to
decline 10 marry II woman because ma
ture had laid upon her physical
blemish, She appointed time for the
meeting.
Alanthus went TO the palace expect
ing to see the woman whose likeness
had been sent him. He met different
person, When the princess appeared
he was thrilled, She was radiuntly
beautiful.
plp nrlnCpSS married AlnnthuS who