The Ely miner., 1931-02-13

II became her. That was to be his
birthday gift.
A Mitten receiving fur scarf birth
day gift from an admirer
Small wonder that new excite
ment purred through that menage
Small wonder that two timid. mouse
brown women, Injured to routine and
petty pastimes, suddenly found them
selves rushing about on feet that
scurried.
There was an air, in the tiny house
hold, of some one always about to
catch a train. Every opening of the
shop door, or ring of the bell. was the
occasion for start or jump. Every
minute held it's potential thrill. Its
potential heartache.
Bella knew that, and sometimes a
fear settled on her, chilling and
threatening her. Was her happiness
about to cast tragedy over the life of
her sister? Well Bella knew the old
familiar situation. Two women, grown
as they had grown, into middle years,
dependent upon each other in a hun
dred ways. Afraid even to contem-
plate life which did not contain the
old regime. Women who had missed
somehow, the love of men, and who
clung to the mutual sOlace of each
other.
Bella knew the dangers that lurked
for Minna, and she knew, too, the
dangers that lurked for herself. Mis-
taken remuneration. Futility of sacri-
flee under certain conditions. 1t took
courage to realize that. Sometimes
there crept into Bella's heart the i'm
pulse to cast aside this impending op-
portunity for happiness. and let her
destiny flow along with her sisters.
But most of the time Bella kept her
courage in hand. Why wreck her own
chance of happiness and possibly
Myron DOdge's when she was not even
sure of achieving happiness by such a
renunciation, for Minna?
And so when Myron Dodge, fifty,
hale, hearty, wholesome and astOnish-
ingly well-to-do, actually proposed
marriage to Bella Mitten across a
counter where, for twenty years, she
had dispensed needles, spool-thread.
invisible hairpins and huck toweling,
heart-hurting situation was created.
There enters the familiar complica-
tion of an older sister impelled TO
renunciate, in the name of the
younger. And it must be said that
Minna. perhaps because she was
Trailer, fought off, if not in actual
words, then with the terror of her
manner, this marriage of her sisters
Minna was frightened. desolated, panic
stricken. 1t seemed impossible that
she could go in world that contained
Bella. married.
And the marvel of it is that Bella
did not make the stupid sacrifice in
the name of sisterly love. After
struggle, it is true, long heart-break-
ing one, and with Minnas unspoken
attitude making it all the more diff
cult, Bella decided that the really gen.
erous act toward her sister and her.
self, to say nothing of the man she
loved, was to marry Myron Dodge
1t meant heartache, it meant heart
hurt, it meant a residium of fear and
pity in the heart of Bella even as she
stood bride. But deep within her per-
sisted the instinct that not to have
married Myron Dodge would have been
one Of those purposeless, sentimental
sacrifices which in the end only en-
bitter all concerned.
If there had ever lurked in Bella
any fear that Myron might not rise to
the occasion of treating his sister-in-
law with the pampered indulgence to
which she was accustomed. that fear
was quickly dispelled.
For the first TWO years of their mar
riage, the Myron Dodges travelled
abroad, accompanied every inch of the
way by the smaller and Trailer Minna.
And if she had been INDUCED by Bella,
before this marriage, twice that kind
liness, twice that forbearance was ex-
pended in her behalf by Myron. 1t
was his way of paying Bella tribute
he knew would mean most to her.
The three of them finally decided to
settle down in lovely old Sussex cot
tage in England for year or so. Life
is pleasant there. Almost unbelievably
So Tranquil. Full of beauty and hap
piness.
Bella never has any regrets over her
wisdom in not making the sacrifice in
behalf of her sister. Indeed, on the
contrary, she often figures pleasantly
to herself that, if she had not had the
strength to ignore her scruples and
make this marriage, Minna, from the
Businesses of the little notion store.
would never have met up with Cleve-
land Alley.
Cleveland Alley is prosperous
squire in Sussex whose attentions to
Minna are becoming more and more
marked.