North Carolina State University - Agromeck Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

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••Si.i]i! wait I hell) I Willi i- waxing cliniuent uuw ( Wlici ' c shall 1 iK-iiin lo answer s.i many (im-siions ' . First, iiccaiise you liaxc t ' (jnn l yoiii ' rrincc don ! think that cxcry .iihcr man is a ])rinee, too. Ami 1 iv ' j: leave to call your .Majesty ' s attention to the fact — uni li ' ipji! . How eouhl i he otherwise when excryone i so kind and good to nie ' ■■Then that teaching question. I don ' t ihink teaching is drudgery — I like it — and the children, with their (|uainl saying-, 1 love them. Perhajis it is true that sometimes their faces and hands may not he iiiuuacnlate. hut their little hearts are so sweet and fresh and imre. they remind me of tlowers — -ioleis, bahy-faced ])ansies, frail, delicale snowdrops — the worhl ' s great Hower garden. And mother — here her eyes softened and a dewy, misty hxjk re]ilaced the laughter in them — what a ]irivilege it is fipr me to work for her — she who has done so much for uie ! Lasth- — and it makes me feel as if I were a minister saying lastly — you, voni ' own sell ' , little woman, with yonr ]inrilanical ideas of truth and honor. Would not have me marry a man 1 diil not love — aecejjt his love and his wealth, and in return give him an em]ity heart — no, dear, T know you lietler; and I T shoidd des])ise myself, eotdd 1 sI.k.]. to that, ■es. 1 know he is worthv of love. Do not ask me why I cannot Ionc him. Know you not lh ' lillle hlind god, ( ' n]iiil, comes not at our call, hut sends his darts where and at w hum hi ' will ' . ■■.Vnd now. ha i ' 1 eonviuced you You havi ' found your I ' rinci — do not denv me the ]ileasnre of waiting and watching for mine. ■ ' Von have always iiad a way of imd ing us think as yon wish, Katie. I sniqiose it is iHcanse yon n ake ns love you tirst. 1 shall miss yon s,, mnrh — I wish on were not going to-night, lint you must promise me, after yon have s])ent the month anmng the leaehers of the Old Xi.rlh Slate, yon will come hack to me for the summer I will not take ■no ' for an answer. .Vnd as Marv went within In ]irepare a liinrh, i alliei-ine still -wayed to and fro in the hanimork. as she nmsed : ■■Who would not he ha]i|iy in such a s|iiit ' . I think it is the most heantifnl of any jioi ' tion of our dear old I ' almelto Stale. The gival gmii ' led old oaks with their (Quaker dres-es of soft gi ' ey nmss, which hangs in long festoons till it scarce escajies tonehiii the grounil--the yellow jasmine clamhering in riotous jirofnsion over every availahle irv. hough and twig, then casting its hlossoms

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My Prince KATIIMKIXK, please lie seridiis tnr (nice, mid lell me wliy ynu Ircal Mi ' . Dc.xler as vmi ilo ( My dear emisin Mai ' v, t i asiniiiid nie. Am 1 iicit serinus imw Am 1 not always the ery eiiililem (if seriousness itself f — which limad sfatemeiit the rosiiiish laniihter in her clear grey eyes cdntradicted. llax-c 1 udt always heen ihankfid to Kat( — jiiKir Fate! wIkhii vwyy une almscs- that siie did iml make nie fri -iiliius as utlier girls Marv, (Inn ! Idnk sd inerediddus, 1 hcg vuii. Now, consin mine, is this frown dee]) and dark enough, oi ' shall I make it several degrees darker in shade, as I denuind to know, in stei-n tones, wlier ' of 1 have failed in my duty to your protege, iMr. Dexter ,Vm 1 not a model of pulite- ness — a veritahle ' I adj Chesterfield C Oh, Katherine, Katheriue ! Spare me any more eloquence; I feel that I could not survive it, said Mary, laughing. And please straightway remove that serious look. Had I known what to expect, nothing could have teui]ited me to ask you to lie serious even for a moment. I merely wished to ask why y iu treated Mr. Dexter so coldly. Did you ask if you were polite to him ( ' ou are a regular iceherg of politeness. P)Ut why are you so ]ierverse and say that you cannot love him, Katie dear He is so Well alile to make you happy, he idolizes you — evervoue can see tha t — and he is y iuug, handsome, gifted, wealthy — Would you have uie — No, let me finish before I am overwhelmed with another hurst of eloquence. Here you are, just at the very time you should he happy and enjoying life — for you deser -e hajijpiness more than anyone I know of, little girl — and yet you banish him, bury yourself in a hot, dusty schoolroom, with dii ty little urchins — I cannot luiderstand it, my child ; if he were old and ugly I might — but such a model young man as he is, and one whom half the girls would jumji at the offer of his love and fortune. 1 know it is very nolile in you to work to sup- ]idrt your mother, and think of how nnich more |ileasure it Wduld give her, when such a release frum the drudgery of tea(diing, I feel that you are making a gi-eat mistake not to accejit it. Couldn ' t you love him just a little J 121

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in showers of vellnw nold at tlieir feet, and ladini;- the air tor miles aruiuid with its sweet fragrance. In the distance, tlirongh the trees, can be caught a glimpse of the sea — the restless, ever moving sea, with its ceaseless mnrniur which hills one to rest as a mother her tired child. And viidding to the motion of the hammock, Katherine lazily closed her eyes. She was not pretty, this slender girl. One of her friends described her thus : A wee Palmetto girl, with delicate features and laughing face; hair, which having been kissed by the sun, had raught several stray sunl)eams, that still lingered in its meshes as though loath to leave; a sweet mouth, and clear, earnest grey eyes which looked straight into yours — eyes fearless and tender; grave and laughing; proud and appealing. A girl who had a way of capturing your love ere you knew it was gone, and when you idealized it you did not wish it back again. Once her friend, always hi ' r friend. Katherine, Katherine, come to lunch. Lazily, slee]iily o] ening her eves, she murmui ' eil ] ly Prince, then starting, said half-alond, I must ha e fallen asleep, and I ' ve dreamed of my Prince again. Will I ever meet him e.xcejjt in dreams, I wonder ( Well, I nnist go and tell ilary of my dream, and let her lecture me once more, lief ore T go, on being so iuuiginative. Dear old Mary, how good she is to me, and how I love her — I fa)icy as a sister which I have always longed for. The car was whirling along, carried by that wonderful power of electricity, Avhich man has caught, chained and made his slave. Katherine was idly gazing out, half listening to the young lady she had recently met — half thinking of the friends she had left in the Palmetto State, and around her heart lurked the merest twinge of homesickness — when she heard her name called — ly friend. Miss Allison, Mr. Ravenel. Looking up, she started, for with lirown eyes smiling down into her grey ones stood — the Prince of her dreams. The same handsome head, the dark eyes, now deep, soft and tender — now with a shadow (d ' mischief lurking in their depths; the same clear-cnt features; the same mouth, strong, tirm, yet gentle, and as he raised his hat, the same broad white lirow, with short, dark, clustering curls. We have startled Miss Allison from some very pleasant dreams, he said, if I may judge from her expression ; — then, Permit me, as he descended from the car with them, accomiianied them a short distance to the church and