The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, January 27, 1905, Image 8
3EBBBBBBBBB
|Two (
I XA/hir-h wa ?
w
1
i IP
i
IS
I UN
E3BBBBBEBBB2
*0*0*0*0*0*0**0*0*0*0*0*0*] 1
I The One |
1 Letter I
* By +
2 CHANN1NG POLLOCK o
* *
o o
* Copyright, IOOI, by Channing Pollock *
o*o*o*o*o*o**o*o*o*o*o*o* 1
c
After they hml come to an under- i
standing Frank Clnxton took Virginia j
_ Carter to dinner at movant's. This un- t
derstniullng, the result of many nilsun- \
derstandings, put an end to their engagement,
and they chose to hold the i
wake over their dead love at the tiny
restaurant* where it had been horu. t
Neither talked much during the meal, i
and when either spoke, for some reason
not easily explained, it was in a t
very low tone. The man said, "I suppose
I had better return your letters?"
"There must 1>e a great many of a
tliem," responded the girl, the corners a
of her mouth trembling into a faint
smile. I
"Yes. In?in three years"? 1
"I shall send yours tomorrow?that
is, I shall send all but one. I should like j
to keep one?in memorials. May I?" r
"If I may." I
"Certainly. *A fair exchange,' you c
know." ;
Claxtou left her at the door of her
apartment something less than an hour
inter. On the way to his own home he
marveled that he should regret what
had happened so little. The petty quarrels
of the past few months had worn
out his endurance, he thought, and rendered
him indifferent to their cuhninn- ,
tion. He wondered how she felt about ^
It. At all events, the separation would
leave him with more time?more time 1
to work, more time to devote to the
friends he had neglected since he had '
begun caring for her. - K
In the matter of the quarrels he did a
not consider himself blameless. Ho tl
realized this, and admired himself a bit t<
for tho Inhoronf f/onnrAnl*
.MMWUV ?VUVI UOIIJ ? illLU \) Itventyd
his holding her solely to ac
count.
Claxton reached his "place" in rather ^
a relieved frame of mind. lie opened 1
the door with a key fastened to a sliver 'f
ring that she had given him oil his
birthday and walked straight across t<
tho library to his typewriter. Beside tl
the machine was a tiny cushion she [|
bad made for him to rest his elbow ^
upon when he was "rending copy." He t(
recalled that It. had coino wrapped In ^
numberless pieces of paper, each one
Inclosed Inside the other, like the eggs 11
Jn a Chinese puzzle. That was about 8
tho time that tho Interest aroused by i
hla tale of Central American life had '
Opened the haorta of editors toward H
BBBBDBDT EBB
=JUS
>arloac
THE
ire going to s
yg?BMIa? rs
i American Hog
American Fiel
American Fiel
American Fiel
)[
[ American Pou
American Pou
American Pou
?
y the American Fe
iam s_s
ivn n i
BBBBBBBBBBl
Hm.
Somehow the detective story he had
ntended to begin did not fly from his
Inger tips as speedily as he had exHK'tcd.
The first paragraph, after
vritlng which, he told himself, things
ivould go better, stood uloi ? on the
tape, a succession of stilted and uninviting
sentences.
"Not in the mood," lie confessed at
ast and strolled down It roadway to his
lull. The boy at the door didn't know j
dm, ami when, after satisfying the stu>ld
fellow of bis membership, lie saun- i
ered into the lounging room he was ;
11 an exceedingly unpleasant limnor. 1
'Parsons been here this evening?" he
nquired brusquely of an attendant.
"No, sir," replied the man. "He does
lot come very often now, sir. Married,
believe."
Clnxton cursed Parsons from tlie botoui
of his soul. |
"Graham?" lie asked.
"Mr. Graham was in about a w-aak 1
igo. We don't see him more than once
i fortnight." I i
"Funny," mused Cluxlon. "By George, j :
wonder if there's any one in the
date?" j
There was. in the writing room?
'redorlck. Ford Ferguson. a youth Just
oaring a timorous mustache into exste!'.ce
and tolerated only for the sake
if 1:1s fat' or. Major I-'er^usoii, formory
of the Ninth infantry., Flaxton
Fertilizer
Inform at ion.
You are doubtless debating the t '
est and most economical plan for
rtilizing this year's crop. We !>. eve
that the only economy t#> be
racticed in fcrtiliz? r< is to use tie*
est, and while tbare are others as
ood, we do not believe that there
re any that are any better than
la* old well known and thoroughly
isted Wnndo brands.
Our advice to ouv planter friends
! to lise loss siiul nao !><>
ill see to it tlmt no man soils you c
ir loss than wo do. Wo carry a i
irgo stock on hand in our ware- t
ouse in Union, and art* prepared r
> deliver to any shipping point in
tie state in ten ton lots or more. *
f you do not use 10 tons yourself. 1
et two or three of your neighbors |
> go in with you ami have your t
jrtilizers delivered to you at your t
lost, convenient depot. Will he 6
lad to do business with you. t
Jnion Grocery Co 1
ligh grade fertilizers at lowest prices, t
I
\
BESEBEBBB3
Is Am(
BEST
ell at once.
ssauaniHBHnHBHM
f Fence, 26 inches
d Fence, 34 inche
d Fence, 49 inche
d Fence. 58 inche
iltry Fence, 34 inc
iltry Fence, 46 inc
iltry Fence, 58 inc
\.
nee and it wiH ad
%
HARDWARE
? \ y r2BBBBBBBBDI
would gladly have passed the young
ster by, but lie was hailed before h<
could regain the ball.
"Stop n bit. old chap. I want to reac
you a line I'm sending to a friend ol
mine at Daly's. Rather a clover letter
you know."
Olnxton tore himself away and wcul
back home. What was Miss Carter do
Ing? lie would have wagered a liuu
dred that Phelps had called and taker
her out. Confound Phelps!
The story went more smoothly, slim
ulated by the resentful energy of Its
author. From in ' lock until nearlj
daylight the tyfir'ipwttor-.clicked luces
sandy. When it stopped clicking, sever
pages of manuscript, much marred bs
pencil, marks, lay 011 the table near al
hand, tt was a good story, lie felt sure
although there wore two or three do
tails concerning which ho would liavt
liked a. conservative opinion. "I'll take
Virginia out for luncheon and read i!
to her," he thought. Then he remembered
that they had agreed never tc
see each other again?voluntarily, thai
is.
The day, which began witli his rising
at noon, dragged along monotonously
It 'was hard to realize that he mlghl
not spenk to her over the telephone thai
stood on his desk and harder still to be
convinced that she would not call hire
up. Toward midnfternoon Claxton un
locked a drawer and took out the nine
packages of her letters that represent
ed a correspondence of three years. lit
must choose the one letter and return
the rest to her.
To do tliis he must read every epis
tie In the nine bundles. Claxtcm, in
common with most men who write 01
let, was a sentimentalist, and he wanted
that the one letter should be the
Jenrest of all. The first that met bin
?ye he laid aside in the belief that II
would prove the dearest. 'Miss Cartel
had penned it when he lay ill of fevei
it San Jose de Guatemala. "Your cade
was repeated to me at Chicago,"
vas the message. "Otherwise l should
invc been with you now. I know that
f your Illness continued you would
iced a nurse, and I felt that 1 could
?ot delegate to strangers the privilege
>f attending you." It was a womanly
etter?the letter of n woman mature in
leart and brain?and Claxton pondered
i long while- before putting it aside.
Next cauae a telegram, sent to his
ipartments before the telephone had
>een installed: "Please come tonight.
Vm blue. Have wired Minnie stay
lomo." A very sweet, dependent litlo
message, but of course not to be
bought of >is the single memento of
10 close a friendship as theirs had
>ccn. It was evrn preferable to retain
he short noto which he had always
tscribed to herr literary gouius rather
ban tq her feelings. "Bach thought of
X.
sossaasssa
:c EM
srican
ON EAI
Come ea
> high, at . . .
s high, at . . .
s high, at . . .
s high, at . . .
hes high, at . .
hes high, at . .
:hes high, at . .
%
Id 20 per cent, to th
ARE C
l DEALERS.
S
\
v M rr/7 ^/Trr/7r?ryr
7 ** X2Q>
- you, dropping into the waters or my
? heart, producos ever widening circles
j of tender recolleellou."
1 Then there was an envelope from
f her, on the back of which he had coiu,
posed n fragment of verse. It began:
Thou art so dear to me, ray love?
t So dear and, oh, so neccssury!
Clnxton reinenibcrod that she hud
prized the poem above anything else
i lie had given her. "It is so tine to be
| thought 'necessary,' " she had said.
| In this manner lie progressed through
i live of the nine packages. Each letter
' | seemed more desirable than the rest,
| and every moment made a selection
i less easy. This scrawl was a reassurr
| since which she had penciled on the
t leaf of her programme at the theater;
, that sheet of blue paper bore the lirst
words of affection he had ever received
> from her.
s At the bottom of the fifth bundle was
t a long envelope with the name of a
publishing company on its upper left
> hand corner. " The postmark was over
t two years old. "Rejected manuscript,"
Clnxton concluded, tossing il to one
1 side contemptuously. That had come
bnck In the days when rejected mnnut
scripts had not been half so rare as
t good dinners or money with which to
- pay rout. Something approaching cu>
rlosity made him pick up the envelope
again and draw the contents from Its
> mouth. The story that lay before lilui
. nma ItAndml Off
>1 4?r? in uuru, J infill i'i?nii\ \ I.IACill, 1
Money Saved.
I We can refer you to dozens
of our satisfied customers
| who can tell you thaf they
t saved money by buying their
; Cow Feed from us. We are
in position to give you sdecially
close prices on cotton seed
meal and hulls in any quantities
from loo pounds to 20
car loads. There is no better
or more economical feed to
be had than hulls and meal.
A little money saved on
every little purchase amounts
to a great deal in the end, and
besides giving specially attractive
prices on hulls and
meal, we give trading stamps
? with every cash purchase.
Union Grocery Co.
Handlers of everything to eat for
11 man and beast,
% Ik., . .
sesaeeaeaaee
J E D?
Field I
TTH.
Lrly and get y<
32c per Rod S
36c per Rod
48c per Rod \j
56c per Rod %
32c per Rod v
42c per Rod
50c per Rod |
e value of your far
OMPA
f
BaaaaaaaEBi
j West - Twenty-llrst Street," hut the
tyr.e unmistakably belonged to the inaI
elilno which still remained a fixture
' ?t Miss Carter's. The tale was one
thai she had soul over his signature to
ai! ditor of whose opinion she had felt
j certain, and it had in consequence been
votur::f;l to him when that gentleman
had classed it as "unavailable." "I
thought you'd get a check," Virginia
had confessed, "and 1 knew you'd
spend it without considering whys and
wl: s. It's Just like Phelps! lie
wa enthusiastic over the plot when I
told i to him last week."
"Virginia." ho had remonstrated, "it
was like ottering ine charity."
i "Xmscp.se! 1 shouldn't have thought
of l.sndin r you money. I simply wrote
a story for .volt that you might have
written yourself if you had taker.
' thuo."
I "Taken time! tlood l.ord. how much
| time he hud taken that year in just
: such discouraging, unreiininerutivo laI
hor! How unhappy liifejind hecu and
now nwr\jny. owrully liard up! He
hadn't begun spending every evening
with her then, and he hadn't begun
selling whatever he wrote either: "Nobody
ever did?at lirst." site had ns8tired
him.
For twenty minute.: Claxton .sal siieutly
on his < hair iduiid in tiie middle
of a sea of letters. I lis lingers clung
to t he rejected uianuseript, hut his eyes
looked l?ey<.nd it itito the past. All the
half forgotten history of ids love for
; Virginia t arter had been recalled to
! him with wonderful vividness?her un!
varying goodness, the sweetness of
I their intercourse, the erstwhile strength
of his affection for her. A ship's clock
in the adjoining room struck 'J, the
nautical fashion of saying that the hour
was and with nitick resolution Ite began
climbing into Ids evening clothes.
"I've come to take you to dinner," he
said to Miss Carter when she responded
to his pressure on the button at her
door.
"So you were lonely, too?" she asked
him.
"Lonely? Iiy George, uud thoso letters"?
She whs too clever a girl not to seem
surprised, and he could not look
through the sides of iter trunk into the
tray where reposed several packages
of his letters to her, unsearched, nntoucbed,
since lirst they had been read
and laid away.
Home people do not care so much for
danciug since they have discovered that
. it Is not wicked.
I Oue kind of race prejudice is to be
commended, and that is a prejudice
against the horse race. ... ...
* t. i*
VI- i j '
I OS.
B 'fr*"Tfnfir~,t'"w* ^
Fence|
our choice. |jj
i#
^ w
ny, I
gSggggggggl
Bine Jar?>
? Blue jays never go south, but stay
i north during the coldest winters. It Is
i said they live to be a hundred years
old. Very few people have ever seen
i their nests or young. They can sing a.
, dozen different tunes. I never kill them,
for they once saved my life. I had been
lost In the woods for two days. Night
, was coming, and It began to snow. I
built n bough camp, and while cutting
wood cut a hollow stub. When I split
It open I found four blue Jays and
about n bushel of bread and meat. I
built n fire and ate about a peck of the
provisions. The jays did not go away,
but came up to the fire and appeared to
enjoy the heat. My feet were cold, and
I commenced to daiipe to warm them.
Then the birds sang the prettiest Jig
tune I ever heard. The stoian lasted
twenty-four hours. When It was over
I climbed a tall pine, but I came down
mad as a wet hen. 1 bad discovered ^
the lumber camp about fifteen rods distant.?Lewiston
(Me.) Journal.
PERT PARAGRAPHS.
^Thosc men who have forgotten how
they felt when they were recovering
from swearing off last year have probably
sworn off again this year.
Some people have to be proud or
theft' would have no claim whatever to
distinction.
Don't waste any sympathy over the
iceman. He is probably In the coal
business now.
It is easy for the man who is making
nothing to savo half of what he
makes.
No severe and lasting drought can
keep an enterprising railway from watering
Its stock.
coat of arms may make an Impression
In some circles, but It does not
help a man when bis dearest wish Is
to get credit nt a ten cent restaurant.
It Is lncky sometimes for a man that
he can't soak his head with a pawn1
broker.
s