The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1923-06-08
THE ELOPEMENT
BY RUTH BIRDSALL

II
fully close Some folks said he'd
squeeze every penny till it hollered.
Martha, his wife, had lived with him
SO long and put up with his foibles
Tor so many years that she'd become
an expert at getting round him. She'd
wheedle things out of him without his
even suspecting it.
Sally, Caleb's daughter, was the
| prettiest girl in the village and much
sought after. She was as nice to one
sutton as to another and everybody
was guessing which one she really
favored. Caleb used to say, "Well,
sometimes I'm afraid nobody.s ever
going to take her off my hands" He'd
always laugh as though he'd cracked
a pretty good joke when he said it,
but nevertheless we all knew he meant
every word of it. Personally, never
cared very much for Caleb. He hit
! me cross-grained
Finally Emery Horton came home
from college and began working in his
fathers factory. At first he was just
another contestant in the tryout for
Sally's favor, but gradually all the
betters began to settle on him and the
excitement kind of died down.
After several months of this lack
Of suspense on the part of us villag-
ers, the home paper came out with an
item of interest. Mr.. and Mrs. Caleb
Karter announced the engagement of
their daughter, Sally, to Mr.. Emery
Horton. Nobody ever bothered before
in our town to put such news in the
paper cause we'd all hear about it
sooner or later anyway-generally
sooner If Miss Peekins, the milliner,
got hold of it first. She was just like
one of those new-fangled radios-a
broadcaster of everything that came
her way.
Martha had become reconciled, and
appeared real clipper and busier'n
two bees, planning for the wedding.
1t was to be church affair with flor
lists and caterers from the city, 1.-THE
Voice That Breathed Ger Eden" sung,
dress suits and everything Nothing
else was talked of in the whole town.
Sally grew prettier and pinker than
ever, but none of the plans were hers
They were her mothers, but Sally
seemed to fall right in with them
Not so with Caleb. He didn't fall in
at all. AS Martha's face beamed hap
pier with her planning, Caleb's grew
grayer with worrying. 1t wasn't the
thought of losing Sally but the pros
pect of footing the bills for all the
furbelows that tortured him. He was
the richest man in the village, anyway,
and Sally was his only daughter, but
nothing meant anything to him except
parting with money. He stuck to
money like sticky fiy-paper to a cats
back.
"Never cost your folks so much to
marry you off to me. Martha" he'd
say. "Why's Sally got to be so ex-
pensive?"
Martha'd never stop to argue with
him. She'd learned better than that.
She just kept right on planning and
dickering, and Sally and Emery kept
right on loving each other in spite of
1t all.
The wedding was set for the first
Tuesday in June, and real engraved
invitations were mailed round to every
body three weeks ahead. 1t must have
been the sight of those invitations go
ing into the post office that upset EN-
cry and consequently changed every
body's plans. Folks say that on that
very day-a whole three weeks before
the date set-Emery rushed up to
Karter's in his little rafting auto like
allpOssessed. Reckless and wild was
how they described that ride.
He dashed into the house where
Sally was sitting, kind of listless, and
took her right off her feet, both figu-
ratively and physically.
"Sally, Sally" he said, 81 know I'm
a coward and gutter, but I can
never go through with that show-off
wedding. Let's elope."
For a minute Sally looked kind of
dazed, then light dawned upon her.
ooh, Emery" she cried, "do you
hate it, too? 1 dread it 90 that I'm
almost sick thinking about It, Wait
till 1 get my hat"
She flew upstairs, leaving Emery in
the middle Of the front room floor, so
happy and relieved that he didn't even
hear the hammock out on the porch
creak when old Caleb climbed out of
1t and went down the walk.
In no time at all Sally was back
and she and Emery were racing out .
to the auto. There they stopped short
as though they'd been turned to stone
for in the back seat sat Caleb as set
tied as though he'd grown there.
Right away, though, they saw that he
was wearing broad grin.
"Climb in, children" he said you'll
need witness and I'm volunteering"
So Sally and Emery and Caleb all
drove over to the next town for a
hasty ceremony. There Caleb did the
only generous thing l ever heard Of
his doing. He paid the minister out
of his own pocket-handed him a five
dollar bill and told him to keep the
change Naturally he figured it was
worth that much to free his mind Of
the expense of the church wedding.
We villagers, and especially poor Mar
tina, felt awfully cheated out of big
affair, and it hasn't tended to make
Caleb any more popular 'mongst his
townspeople. He always hit me cross
grain. anyway.