Edgerton High School - Edgertonian Yearbook (Edgerton, OH)

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I THE TWO LETTERS. A letter from-ah! I thought that was from brother, but that is not his handwriting. lfVho writes to me besides my brother? No onef, said Alice, eagerly opening the latter. The envelope fell to the Hoorg her hands trembled as she read: Dear Alice,-You will no doubt be surprised to get a letter of this kind from some one you don't know and perhaps have never seen. I see you pass my study window every time you go to or from your work. You are very beautiful, so slender and straight, and sweet as a rose of june. Your pretty hands are as white as a lily. The flush of your cheeks is as the tirst bud of the morning. Your laughing lips have the color of a scarlet geraniumg but your eyes. how can I tell you of your eyes? They have the beauty of calm, wide waters when the setting sun has given them that wonderful color. S Some day, perhaps, we shall meet face to faceg then you will give me your permission to tell all that is in my heart. Until then remember me only by what I have said in this letter. Because I love you, Alice. Your Unknown Lover. Alice looked at the letter in wonder. Her first love letter! She ,still stood where she had received the letter from the postman at the door. I am going to have a secret, she said, all to myself. No one will know I got this and I will try to lind out who the writer is. l won't go to work today, but stay at home and help mother. She knew she dare not stand there long or she would be caught. So she folded the letter, put it in the envelope and ran to her own room, where she deposited it into safe keeping. She then hurried to the kitchen. so her mother would not suspicion anything. As she entered the door, Dick Evans appeared in the door leading from the garden. He greeted Alice and her mother in a neighborly way and picked up one ol' Mrs, Sherman's fresh made cookies and sat down in the doorway. Alice went about her work, but her thoughts were busy trying to read the mystery other letter. Dick finished his cookie and got up to go hack to his work. Say, Mrs. Sherman, said Dick, taking another cookie. you're one of the best cooks in this country, and Alice is another, I know, because I ate a piece of a cake she made the other day. It was simply scrumptious. That's all right, Dick: just come in any time, youre always welcome. I suppose you're glad to get hack from college again. said Mrs. Sherman. Yes, I am glad to get back. but I had a mighty good time while I was there those four years. Are you going back again? . No, I'rn through. I think I'll stay at home this summer and help dad in the store. XYell, I'l1 have to go back or I won't get that lawn raked before dinner. 5

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The tree trembled, and at a call from my brother I began to run. But too late, the tree, forced by the gale, fell with a crash. I was pinioned to the earth by the heavy branches. Two days later I was aroused to consciousness by cool hands on my forehead. VVhen I opened my eyes I was looking into the face of Margaret. I whispered her name, but she cautioned me to 'be quiet. As I lay there it occurred to me that she had never married. VVhen I felt better she returned to her home. Having sufficiently re- covered, I decided to spend a few days in the open air. My father suggested that I ride to a neighboring town for diversion. Accordingly, one bright morning I set out. The road led between high crags and through the shady aisles of the forest. Before me stretched the road flecked with patches of sunshine. As I rode, enjoying nature at its lovliest, I was startled from my reveries by a scream. Tugging at the rein, I drew up my horse at the side of the road, and noticed a path crossing the main road a few hundred feet in front of me. Suddenly a horse dashed down the path, turned into the road and came pounding toward me. As the frightened beast rushed past me I saw he was saddled with a woman's saddle. Knowing something was wrong, I dismounted and, slipping the bridle over my arm, started along the path down which the horse had come. I had only gone a little way wlieniT savv a girl lying huddled up by the roadside. Turning her face upward, I beheld the white features of Margaret. The blood was dripping from an ugly gash on her forehead. I staunched the blood with my handkerchief and sank to the ground.beside her. Her cheeks and lips were colorless, but I could feel the throbbing of her heart. Lifting her in my arms I carried her to a small- brook flowing near by and tried every means I knew to restore respiration. Soon my efforts were rewarded and the slow color began to return to her face. Then she drew a sobbing breath and sat up. 'With my aid she succeeded in rising, but as she did so gave a little stifled gasp and lunged forward against me. She had twisted her ankle cruelly. After a' short time she consented to make another attempt -and stood firmly upon both feet. Wfe both agreed she was more frightened than hurt. Since her horse was gone, I insisted that she accept my mount. As we passed up the lane to her home, she riding and I walking close beside,I asked her the question I had come to ask ten years before. A deep Hush Hooded her cheeks and mounted to her brow, and a soft light nlled her eyes as she leaned forward, and with her lips close to my ear, murmured 'Yes. ' LOUISE RICKERSON, '15

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The Evans family lived next door to Sherman's and Dick, the only child, had been given the finest education and was now spending his summer vaca- tion at hom-e before he took up his fall work, as professor in the college of his OW11 Clty. p V He was a fine looking fellow of about five feet ten inches in height and his broad shoulders gave him a look of strength, He was a very jolly fellow, always in for a good time, and every one knew he would make a fine professor for the college. Alice excused herself early from the drawing room that evening, and hurried to her room, but it was many hours before she slept. She took the letter from its hiding place and read it again and again until she knew every word of it. VVhen at last her eyes closed she felt the letter crushed in her hand. XVhen she entered the dining room the next morning, she did not look like the same girl she was two days ago. She had an older look, one of more responsibility. XVas she more beautiful? Yes, far more. She looked so much different her father could not help saying, Alice, you look so well this morning. ' I am, father. I feel fine. Shermanis were wealthy people and Alice, her only sister, Edna, and her brother had had good educations, ller sister, being younger, was still in college. Alice was twenty-one and far more beautiful than her sister of nineteen. VVhen Alice went to her work on this particular morning, she was very careful to observe the windows along the street. In one she saw a young man sitting at his study window. .-Ks she passed he looked up from his work. He was no one she had ever seen. Could this be the one who had written the letter? A week passed and Alice heard nothing of her lover. A week from the morning on which she received her first letter, the postman brought her an- other written in the same handwriting. Alice hurried to her room, seated herself and read: Dear Alice,-A week since l have written to youg it seems an age. I have told of my love in the previous letter. I can only tell you it grows more every day. 'tif you are displeased with me, I have a way of knowing. Do not ask how? If you are pleased. this evening, put a rose on your front steps. Your Unknown Lover. That night, when the moon and stars appeared. any one who was watch- ing would have seen a beautiful girl, dressed in blue, appear on the front veranda with a rose in her hand, and go to the steps,-where she laid it down. She returned to a chair near the door. She sat there scarcely a minute, when she arose and almost ran to the steps. She snatched it up and hurried in the house, while her cheeks grew crimson with anger. 'What was I thinking of? she said. as she ran to her room. The one watching her thought a great deal more of her for that act. One afternoon not long after this, Dick came to the veranda where Alice was sewing and sat down beside her.