Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-12-14
A Story of
The Towpath
By OSCAR cox

was the CHIEF means or transportation
In America. At one time they were
used as passenger boats. Then, under
competition with the railroads, they
sank into freighting only, and now they
have almost entirely passed. away.
In those freighting days a man named
Shock drove a mule on the towpath
which pulled a boat. Shock was as
homely as his name. He had never
had u sweetheart, and there was little
hope of his ever having one, for when
ever a woman looked at him she was
appalled,.
There was. some three or four hun
dred yards from the canal, at about
the center of Shocks route, a tumble
down house in a small lot, in one cor
ner of which vas a pigsty. One day
when Shock was trudging along be-
hind his mule be saw at IN open win
dow in the dilapidated trap a female
figure. She was too far off for him to
see what she looked like, but she wav-
ed something white, which Enoch took
to be q tableeloth. Whether she was
trying to flirt with him or was shaking
the crumbs out of the cloth, he could
not be sure. Taking a bandanna from
his pocket, he returned the wave.
Now, Enoch was cognizant Of the
fact that he was not beautiful. His
hair was a fiery red, his nose was a
pug the color of his hair, his teeth
were mostly gone. Had 1t not been
for this he might have made bold on
his return trip to give his mule a rest
and gone to the house a-wooing. AS 1t
was, and since this was the only
chance he had ever met, he was wary.
He thought it better to make some
Roadway in lovemaking before risking
showing the lady his homely person at
close proximity. SO, instead of stop
ping when he passed again, having
provided himself with a boys blow
gun, he fired a wad of paper at her,
which being unrolled revealed the fol-
lowing note:
seen you at yure winder yistaday and l
wood like very much to max yure ac-
Quaintenc.
The lady was watching for the boat
on it's return trip, and when Enoch
fred his note at her she saw it fall
near her house and, going out, picked
1t up and cad 1t. But by this time
Enoch had gone on his way.
When Enoch passed the house again
he saw large letters chalked against
the house, which, though 1t had been
originally white, not having been paint
ed in twenty years, was now a dull
brown. The letters were plainly visi-
BILE from the canal, and Enoch read:
oors+ 80 what Io1L 1fIa from
yere, but you may be a decent lookin' fell
lor and If you air you kin come and see
me.
This reply was rather a setback to
one who knew full well that he was
homely as d hedgehog. The commune
cation was brief, and 1t contained ex-
actly what Enoch would have preferred
that it should not contain. The lady
evidently vas looking for a handsome
man. The message convinced him that
he was right in not permitting her to
see him close by before he had stirred
up some sentiment which might lead
her to overlook in a measure his home
liness.
Enoch's next love letter was written
In lampback on several boards nailed
together and set up on the deck of his
canalboat facing the house of his in
amorata. 1t read:
IL you air a purity woman | wood be hap
py to stop over. lain got no use fer
ugly wimmen.
When Enoch passed the house the
! next time the blinds were all closed
and no living thing was to be seen ex-
cept a few chickens scratching the dirt
In the yard. Enoch was disappointed.
It was plain to him that this was In
tended for u snub. On his next trip
he wrote on his boards, whats up?"
to which was chalked the reply,
"Nothin'."
Enoch reasoned that his ladylove
had peel miffed at his previous COM
m~unication, thinking that he had ac-
cused her Of being homely; but, hav-
ing thought the matter over, she had
seen his rote In another light. He
began to think that faint heart ne'er
won fair lady, and he might as well
face the music one time as another.
So he wiped the lampblack off his
boards and wrote again:
lie stop ovsr mex trip.
When he passed again he was ar
rayed in a store suit that had cost him
81. His hair had been creased with a
slice of fat. and his boots had been
BACKED. Stopping his mule-and the
BOAT when it had lost Its momentum
he proceeded to the house of his lady
love. She had been watching him
from a window and opened the door
for him.
laws n marsy!' was her exclama-
ton.
"Bv guur.t' yTas Enoch's.
The woman had lost most of the hair
ON her head, which seemed to have
gone to her face. Her nose had de-
veloped abnormally under the effect of
some skin disease. She was slabsided
and angular.