The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-05-27
FAMILY
TRAITS
BY H. IRVING KING
t@ by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.)
(WNU Service)

nN ETTIE RAVENS has got beau
~ at last" The news was all
over the town. 1t was rather an i'm
portant piece of news. too, for Nettie
owned a full dozen or more houses,
was stockholder in the local bank
and ran the Emporium" the biggest
department store in town.
Nettie was all business. From the
time she was sixteen until her fathers
death she had been his business asso-
ciate. and after his death had gone
right on managing for herself. No
time for frivolity and love making
had Nettie had. Her mother had died
soon after her father, and Nettie lived
alone with a couple of old servants
in a great Colonial house on the hill,
a fine old mansion-but it needed
painting.
AT sixteen Nettie had come back
from the school on a vacation, out
wardly all that her mother could
wish. She was not exactly what you
would call a beauty, but she was
comedy enough and art and cultiva-
ton had rendered her a being of
whom her mother said: "She could
shine in any drawing-room. A few
years more and she will be perfect"
But Nettie announced that she was
not going back to school. She had had
enough of it. She wanted to learn
her fathers business so that she
would be able to handle it when, in
the course of time-which she gra-
ciOusly said she hoped would be a
long time-it came into her hands.
Her mother had wept. Just as Net
tie had aroused in her the only am
bition she ever had in her life she
now caused her to experience the only
grief that she had ever known.
What Jonathan thought about it did
not count He was rather disappoint-
ed on account of his wife; but he was
secretly satisfied on his own account
So that is how Nettie Ravens came
to go into business. She dressed
plainly, almost stability; wore her
hair in an unbecoming manner, seemed
to delight in making herself look as
plain as she could-and succeeded
admirably. She laid her little, pleas
ing airs and graces away in moth
balls and became a sharp, decisive
young persons; no nonsense, all bust
ueSS.
And now Nettie at thirty-and
looking forty-was rich woman.
But in spite of her wealth the young
men of the town would no more have
thought of making love to her than
they would have thought of making
love to an adding machine. There was
the goggle-eyed, an anemic, young
man with adenoids. to be sure, who
officiated as her chief clerk and who,
allured by Nettie's bank account,
often wished in secret that he could
muster up enough courage to ask her
to be his bride. But shucks! Philan-
der Liscomb could not muster up
enough courage to say boo to goose !;
much less enough to propose to Net
tie Ravens.
On her thirtieth birthday Nettie,
coming into her store and walking
slowly down the main aisle and look
ing about with keen business scrutiny,
was suddenly aware of a young man,
about thirty-five years old. well
dressed and bearing every mark of
breeding, standing at the glove coun-
ter. Passing through the town he
had accidentally lost one of his driv-
ing gloves out of his car, a bright
blue roadster which stood outside, and
stopped to get a new pair. Nettie
gasped-then stood stock still and
stared. He turned and saw h&. A
look of recognition gradually came
into his eyes.
Nettie was the first to speak.
BASIL" said she. ''come into my Of
fice-I want to speak to you" He
bowed and followed her. take
seat" she commanded. "You haven't
changed much. BASIL" she said. look
ing at him intently: "a little older
looking, of course-but to me you look
just the same as you did fourteen
years ago."
"There is one thing, Nettie." he re-
piled. "in which | have not changed
and never shall; my love for you"
sit is pleasant, of course" she re-
piled. ito hear you say so; but four
teen years is a long time. and have
changed. Can you not see it?"
"In appearance. yes" he answered.
"You look DID, and worn, and tired
and lonely. Oh Nettie, why did you
throw me over the way you did? You
know there was nothing in the absurd
story to excite your Jealousy"
81 have found 1t out SINCE" said
she slowly. But | was young and
foolish then, only sixteen. And now
it is too late. But we shall be friends
Just the same, shall we not?'
"Friends?" he cried; 1--WE shall be
more than friends"
"Philander," said Nettie to her ade-
mold head clerk few days later, "do
you think you could run this shop IL
| gave you full charge of it?" Phil
ander mustered enough spunk to re-
ply in the affirmative. WELL" she
went on. 81 am going away for two
months. Do the best you can"
For two months Nettie was seen
no more by her wondering townsmen.
Then she reappeared as Mrs. Basil
Langton. sold out the shop to syn
dictate, rehabilitated the old mansion
and brought the good old days back
there. She reappeared in society
looking ten years younger than she
had as a business woman, took on
again the grace and the high breed
inc of her mother and was the hest