Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-03-28
THE TWO SUITORS.
(By Edith V. Ross.

| contains a truth.
| Miss Arabella Simmonds was a very
romantic young lady, one of those girls
who dream Of a prince who is to come
| and carry her off in spite of family and
| friends and other suitors. She spent
great deal of time picturing him in her
minds eye-tall, shapely and withal i'm
maculate in his dress.
When the prince came he came dou-
ble-that is. there were two suitors,
both of whom, though they did not
fill Miss Simmonds' dreams. were fine
| TO look upon. One was Peter Dowdy,
| with nothing unromantic about him but
| his name; the other Edwin Ledwith,
| whose name was well enough, but his
manly beauty suffered slight imper-
| lection from Il bald spot the size of
silver dollar near the part in his hair.
Both of these young men being at
Miss Simmonds' disposal. both being
/, especially desirable to her. she hest
tated long while between them. then
| one day made up her mind she would
accept Mr. Ledwith. The reason for
this was that she would prefer a hus-
band with bald spot to being called
Mrs. Dowdy.
1t so happened that the evening Of
the day on which she came to this con
| clusion both these gentlemen called
| upon her. Both had proposed and both
| were anXiouSly expecting an answer.
| Mr. Dowdy called first. He had not
been with the lady long before she told
| him that she had been considering his
| offer, that she admired and respected
him, but she did not love him well
enough to marry him. The look of
1 melancholy with which this dismissal
was received quite touched Miss Sim
monds' heart. He uttered no word Of
reproach, said nothing about having
been led on to his discontinue; he sim
| ply withdrew as one who had received
| his quietus and should have expect
ed it,
1t was quite dark outside when he
| left the house, and there was no street
lamp near. Coal had been put in dur
ing the afternoon. and the colOred man
| who did the job had neglected to re-
| place the lid after having finished the
| job.
The result was that Mr.. Dowdy step
| ped right down into coal bin. He
| fell and was some time rolling about
on the coal before he could get on his
feet again. Then, to his horror, he dis
covered that the hole through which
he had dropped was too far above him
to be reached. There was door to
the coal bin. but it was locked.
Mr.. Dowdy's object was to get out
without attracting attention. The
egress he preferred was by the hole
| above. and he set to work heaping up
the coal that he might form a pyramid
on which to stand. catch at the side Of
| the hole and draw himself up and out.
He had nothing to work with except
| his hands, but he scooped hard and
| succeeded in forming quite stable
| pile He knew that when he stepped
on it it would give way so he did his
| climbing rapidly in order to make
reach before being let down. The re-
| suit was a fall and a roll. and the
/ light spring suit he wore. the tan spats,
his shirt front. collar. cuffs face and
4 hands were all as black as the ace OF
\ spades.
/ Discouraged, he examined the door
of the bin and found it securely lock-
ed. A choice of two things remained
either he must remain there indefinite
ly or he must kick for some one to
come and let him ont. He shrank from
appearing before the girl who had first
refused him begrimed with coal dust
But what mattered it? He had been
turned down and could not be turned
down but once. so he resolved to face
the music. He kicked.
Now, it happened that Mr.. Ledwith
called just before Mr.. Dowdy began
to summon assistance. He had be-
come tired Of suspense and determined
to bring the young lady to the point.
Fortunately he had missed the open
coal hole by few feet and was ad-
mitted to Miss Simmonds' presence. His
appearance-he was In evening dress
with a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS conducive to
success. Miss Simmonds thought she
had never seen him look handsomer.
There was not a speck of dirt on him
anywhere. white kid glove rubbed
all over him would not have been In
the least soiled. He opened his case
at once by telling Miss Simmonds that
If kept in suspense any longer he
would go mad. He implored her to
end his sufferings.
Miss Simmonds was about to confess
that she loved him when she cast her
eyes aside at the doorway leading into
the room and saw and recognized
through the coal dust the figure OF the
man she had but Il short time before
refused If his expression had then
been melancholy it now expressed the
wall Of broken heart.
What a singular being Is woman
Here was one who for years had been
:. dreaming OF the manly beauty. the
shining habiliments of the man she
would love. That manly beauty. those
fine habiliments were before her. and
there. too. was the man who had been
) rolling In the coal hole. With wo'
oman. sympathy is always trump