The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955, 1919-06-20

Hope Sheldon was not a heather;
yet she worshiped an idol. The idol
vas tile Photographic likeness of a
man. She had the picture, but so far
as she knew she never had seen the
original; he might be dead for all of
| her knowledge. Yet to her he embod-
led all that u man ought to be.
This idol, or ideal, worshiped in Sc
cret, prevented Hope from saying the
one-syllabled WORD that would have
made Henry Wadsworth walk on air,
save money, pay an installment on fur
niture and hunt fat.
Hope was fond of Henry. She would
have uttered that lOnged-for word if it
had not been for the photograph. She
admitted this to herself, but to him she
said:
Il can't do it. Please don't ask me
again. I have secret that prevents
my accepting YOU"
That was all the satisfaction he
could obtain. Every time. he proposed,
which was once a week regularly, ne
got the same story in different words,
but with the same meaning. Only once
did he fail to get in his weekly prOpo-
sal, and that was because IA railroad
wreck delayed his special delivery let
ter while he was out of the city on
business.
But Henry was persistence itself.
Nothing daunted him, not even the ref
crence to the secret" At first he con-
! eeived wild thoughts concerning it, and
lost many hours of sleep on account OF
II, but it failed to vanquish him. III
stead. he came back stronger, with
determination to override her mysteri-
Gus objections, whatever they might
be.
Hope was sentimentalist. When
she was Il little girl she got decided no.
| tons about princes, and resolved to
marry one when she grew up. In her
mature years she still had ambitions
| TO wed prince. Not the kind they
had in Europe before the war; oh, no,
they were not for Hope. She wanted
| an American husband. but he must be
a prince of fellow" and the picture
| showed her ideal to be the one that
filed the BILL She would wait for
| this prince to put In an appearance,
! come what may, she decided, and if
he was dead she would never marry.
The picture came into her posses
sion in Il somewhat peculiar manner.
When Hope arrived in the city to
| Oh OH fO n
room that was long ways from be-
! ing desirable, but which was in Il re-
spectacle house in an equally respecta-
| BILE neighborhood. In the top dresser
drawer was the photograph. She
bounced upon it with deep satisfac-
ton, for she recognized the face look
ing up at her as belonging to the
prince of her dreams.
The man in the picture was middle
aged, but that did not deter Hope. He
had heavy mustache, but that was
no barrier. 1t was the kindly eyes
and the benevolent forehead that
caught her fancy. Just what kind of
| forehead is of the benevolent variety
cannot tell you; but Hope could. She
| had read up on such things.
Every night that photograph went
under her pillow after she had wor-
shipped it with her eyes and perhaps
talked to 1t little. Yes, she was a
foolish little girl, was Hope-foolish
along those lines, but otherwise very
sensible. She did not consider that
man of middle-age, with kindly
eyes and benevolent forehead nigh,
be married already. He simply
couldn't be, according to her mind, be
cause he was made just for her.
AS time passed and the ideal per
sisted I'm refusing to present himself
In flesh and blood her determination
did not wane; instead, 1t became
stronger. Then better job permitted
her to move into more comfortable
room in q less poverty-stricken par
of the city, and that, is where the trou
Bile began. That is where she begar
to fight with herself to avoid faithless
ness to her ideal. For across the hal
from her in the new place lived Henry
| Wadsworth, who held some kind of q
job at a theater. He at once fel
in lore with Hope and launched him
self on a program of persistent WOO
ing. She occasionally accepted an in
yitation to dance or dinner, but IL
the main she declined his social atten
lions, which was the only proper course
in line with her refusal Of his matri
rionial offers.
But Hope wavered several times IL
private, of course. The urge was yer,
strong and she had to fight to keel
from yielding to Henry's persuasions
He never knew this, though. ALI tn
battle took place in the privacy of he
room, where she would stand the pic
ture against the wash bowl and star
at it Is minutes at time, assert
ing time and time again that sh'
was 'strue." We are all deranged NOR
or less on some subject ESQ the ex
perts say) and that ideal notion wa
Hopes.
Determination will win almost any
thing, and at last Henry broke dow
the big barrier; or rather, he brok'
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