The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-05-03

Nothing Ia Common.
~ g. PAY BAKER

Marriage IS q puSlHSss lnYesluiSnt,
she began, after fiye:minute silence
following bis proposal. OF course
thsre must be love, and lots Of It..
And IN this case there isn't love-
OF, al least not lots Of it?" he inquired:
That's the principal reason don't I'LL
the bill, ] presume"
II didn't say so,' somewhat sharply.
"a girl may love man and at the
same time refuse to marry him. II SHE
rejects him that Is enough. He Is not
supposed TO deTand reasons: but I'm
giving one voluntarily and 1t can be
termed business reason"
There Is no gainsaying the fact that
Joe was surprised. He had been In
timately associated with Mazda for two
years, waiting only for the time when
he was financially able To marry, and
now when that time had come she
calmly Informed him that business
reasons" prevented their union.
rAs ] said" she continued, slowly
pushing herself back and forth In tina
porch swing by means Of foot mar.
riagn is business proposition. Don't
misunderstood me. The fact that YOU
aps not a millionaire has no bearing.
' IN eware that you have ability and
4te saving money. That is not tho
question, The big point IS we have
hpthing In common ] like classical
music and you want Jazz. We both
Ike books, but you dote on the masters
and modern fiction suits me better. I
:'Pie plays big part Of your meals
and detest 1t. You can't eat salads
and must have them. Yonr favorite
can't live without meat and care little
a,lNah1An yn11iIa With Un0p,
tables are first and meat is unnec-
.essafy. am wild about opera and you
care more for vaudeville. ! would
rather dance than eat: you would rath,
Or die than dance-and so on. have
been very observant during our asso-
citations and find we have nothing
In common; and therefore we never
could succeed In matrimonial ven,
stttre, no matter how much love existed
Fbetween us."
This BIT OF impromptu oratory took
Joe,s breath. He had started to light
8 cigar, but stopped. with burning
match In his hand and scorched his
sDon't you see that am right,
gJce?v Mazda insisted
Joe was not the arguing kind, and
he WINS inclined to take things philo-
sophically, never surrenderlng. but
bidding his time when the occasion
warranted 1t. He rose, lighted his
cigar, and stood while he pulled 1t
t1editatively,
All right; it's as YOU say, MAZDA:
but some day we'll-well find common
ground"
5aPerhaps," she returned. I'm fact,
~ really hope SO. Joe" 49,.
path, and her eyes took on an unnat,
llial glisten. From beneath an open
magazine on the swing beside her she
took a long, thin cardboard box, from
which she extracted red gundrop,,
PLACED It in her mouth and lay BACK
with an air Of contentment. the prom
ise-of tears fading from her eyes.
Mazda could not resist gumdrops.
hers forget her troubles and she had
troubles now for she really loved Joe.
But she had strong conviction, and she
ALSO had the courage to stand by
them.
When Mazda stepped from the train
at Bears Neck her spirits dropped
like an elevator, suddenly relieved OF
ita weights. When one starts on a
summer vacation 1t is nice to have sun.
shine for q companion. and when one
arrives at a destination 1t is not ex.
hilaratihg to be dumped into a mud
Bears Neck resembled nothing SC
much aS huge dab of mud. An artist
could have reproduced the town on
canvas BY using only brown and black
paint, and he would not have needed
10 exercise care against smearing.
Rain was pouring. Mazda stood or
the platform, while several gloomy
citizens surveyed her, and wondered
IL the mud.bespattered flivver stand
4 ing In the road could be for her. She
almost hoped It wasn't, go she would
have good excuse to get on the next
train and let Bears Neck slide out Of
her life.
But g young man attired in a blue
shirt, & khaki trousers, puttees and q
Z Hombrero, got out Of the vibrating ma
chine, made spring through the
sheets Of rain to the protection Of the
You see I'm right OH the job" he
said, smiling and grasping her hand
I'm q regular nemesis
The young man was, of course, Joe
Fargo. Mazda was not as much sur
prise6 as she would have been had she
mot known of the apparent coinci
dence Of Joe's coming West recently
B and her father hiring a new ranch
manager who was young.
There's not an umbrella at the
ranch" he spologized, "and the store
4 keepers don't know what they are
Well have to make q break for It."
Mazda came near being drenched
but It was warm rain and the effects
were not particularly uncomfortable
Soon they were winding their way
along q mountain road Joe explained
that the ranch was not on top of the
mountain, but was on the other side
Of q ridge. and this was short cut
Instead OF diminishing the rain in
cgeased. The side curtains prevented
itNrom entering the car in any guam
tity, but Joe found difficulty in max
Ing his way owing to the constant
swirl OF water In the road ahead. They
were going along at a fairly rapid gate
between two high stone entertainments
when Joe suddenly pulled back the
emergency brake.
he announced. Nov we'll have 10
back UP about mile because we can't
turn. here"
But the car had not made much
progress rearward when Toe again
stopped II and turned to Mazda with
g helpless look.
Nov NO are up against It for fair,
he said aolefully. "The bridge III front
has washed away and big boulder
has blocked the road behind us-and
we cant POSSIBLY climb over these
Fetone walls"
MAZDA turned and peered through
the muddy isinglass window Sure
enough, mammoth rock had lodged
between the walls completely blockins
The road. The prospect was not invit
ing, but she was smiling when she
looked UP into Joe's gloomy counte