Memory's Storehouse Unlocked, True Stories: Pioneer Days In Wetmore and Northeast KansasBristow, John T.
Philosophy
Memory's Storehouse Unlocked, True Stories: Pioneer Days In Wetmore and Northeast Kansas
Bristow, John T.
Nemaha County (Kan.) -- History; Wetmore (Kan.) -- History
Getting back to the dominating character of this story, during that
morning call at The Spectator office, Mr. Henry stepped over to where
The Girl was setting type, saying, “I should know, Miss Myrtle, without
asking that you must have enjoyed the Peak trip.” Their eyes sparkled as
they talked it over. Though months and years had passed since the day
he made the trip with the Handley girl, Mr. Henry was still feeling the
exhilaration of it.
The Spectator office was over the W. H. Osborn shoe store on a corner
across the street from the DeForest mercantile corner. Hardly had Mr.
Henry gotten back to his store when Myrtle, looking out the window,
exclaimed, “My gosh—the chaperon! Look out below!” Seeing the chaperon
heading for the shoe store, caused Myrtle to say to me, “It looks as if
some of you brilliant fraters of Faber could have foreseen the damage to
be done by that foolhardy plunge down the gravel slide.” She had picked
up the term, “fraters of Faber,” in the parlors of the Alamo hotel when
the party was welcomed by Mayor Sprague, the Chamber of Commerce, and
the Pike’s Peak Press Club.
The shoe merchant’s wife had taken care of the store during his absence,
and was still on duty. Somehow, during the hour’s visit, the merchant
slipped a pair of new shoes to the chaperon—as was quite proper, since
he had led her down that gravel slide. But his wife seemingly was not an
understanding woman. She followed the chaperon to the railroad station,
and recovered the shoes. No blows, no hair pulling—not at the depot,
anyway.
Another time, while ostensibly vacationing in Colorado—Colorado again,
I’m sure it was—Mr. Henry had a couple of fine flannel shirts washed by
a Chinese laundry-man in Grass Valley, California, and they had shrunk
so badly that he put them back in stock in his store. I’m positive he
told me they were laundered in Grass Valley. Those fine shirts were to
be taken on another outing in Colorado, and one of them got up Pike’s
Peak, too—but those shirts did not find their way to Grass Valley this
time. I know. I wore them.
Years after that sad trip to Omaha, and after he had thrown his fortunes
in with the younger set, Mr. Henry married a mighty fine Wetmore girl,
a school teacher—Miss Anna Gill. The marriage license gave their ages
as over 21, which was correct as far as it went. A closer tab would have
revealed his age as being somewhere around 54, and hers a full decade
above the stated figure. This romance also “hung fire” for several
years. In fact, it was hard to tell just when it began.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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