The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-01-12
A Midwiinter
Proposal
lcopyrisht. 1917. Western Newspaper Union !,
BY +. Mitchell

| N~sbSfAkAts AsAb "esNssh Nt"sfeFef thoh
II is said that balmy breezes, soft
skies, mellow sunshine, or the light of
ground for love making. ! was not
shared amid any such surroundings.
Helen captured me in midwinter.
Helen and / were skating. A broad
stretch of ice, smooth as glass lay be-
fore us. The morning was bright; the
sun glistened on the frosty scene; the
air was full of ozone. Occasionally
we would skate over a place where the
Ice was thin and we would hear that
cracking beneath us that / have al
ways loved. This sound and the ozone
of frosty morning are far more de-
licious TO me than the song OF the
birds and the fragrance of roses in
June.
Helen's eyes were as bright as the
sunlight on the ice; and her cheeks
had been painted vermilllon by Jack
Frost. We we're skating along with
something of roll, Helen's hands In
her fur muff. and the long hairs of her
tippit caressing her cheeks. How ]
envied her that tippit. She began &c
talk about the various marriage Gus
toms of different countries. When
girl discusses love and marriage the
fellow she is with had better be on hi.
guard. 1t indicates what she is think
ing about.
"They have some funny customs In
Russia concerning betrothals," she
said. "One is that II n girl loves
man she goes to his house and re-
mains there till he asks her to marry
him. If he declines to do so her re-
lations consider themselves insulted,
and punish him accordingly"
'That's very queer, isn't it?"
In another part of Russia where |
there are several unmarried and I'M |
provided for girls, they make a sort |
Of rattle and dispose of them by lot"
THAT'S better"
''In Lapland" Helen continued, "they
have different way still. When
man wants girl, without speaking to
her he goes to her parents and asks
for her. If they consent they inform
her that she has had an offer. Pos
sibly she may not know her sutton,
may never have seen him. There is a
feast at the end OF which a race takes
place between the sutton and the girl
he wants. II she accepts him she per-
mits herself to be caught; if not, she
won't let him catch her"
"That beats all the other plans,
doesn't iti' | saw nothing out before
me over the stretch of ice on which ,
there was not the slightest flaw: ITS |
mighty cold in Lapland; don't they do I
il on skates?"
II suppose So"
l cast a glance aside at Helen. She !
said not a word further but / saw
In her eye. We skated on :
N silence. Presently we passed over
hin ice; the cracking stimulated me; !
made me reckless; / have always a
,rided myself on going into matters
With GOODNESS and elaboration; a I
woman has the faculty Of taking that /
tut of man If she chooses. Helen,
he frosty scene. the ozone In the air, q
he cracking Ice stole away my i
rains.
do you see that point up there and
he little landing for boats extending
nto the ice?' / asked. j
yes" replied Helen In low voice.
The knew what was coming just as q
yell as the spider knows what will &
appen when he sees the fly put his 7
DOT on the web.
81 think / can give you forty :
trokes and beat you to that landing" :,
Il don't think you cam" said Helen {,
nder her breath. =
Suppose we try. You skate on I'M al
| you have taken forty strokes, then b.
,op. When yen hear NE say "go" oil
lie race begins" e
"very WELL" y. ~
She skated on leisurely while I m
united the forty strokes. When the to
lmber was completed called her to OF
op. ar
She took ten more strokes. / won nc
,red IL she had it. because n woman
ust take every advantage of man ~
lie can. Perhaps after all she In VI
nded to beat me If she could. The ~ ~
ue answer was that she wanted me m
think that she was going to do her an
st. But that solution did not think ia
then. DIR
She looked back at me, then ahead, Gu
en- turned again: uil
ats fully a mile to the goal, / need ~
ore handicap"
"Very well make 1t a hundred