Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 88, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 April 1910 — What He Was. [ARTICLE]

What He Was.

Miss Bixby was not given to coquetbut she was pardonably anxious to make an agreeable impression upon Prof. Clark. He was young and handsome, and, like herself, learned, she gathered from the common friend who was plotting to bring them together. Also the friend, a sprightly North Carolina woman, referred to him as a “tarheel." “A what?” Miss Bixby inquired. “Tar-heel,” it appeared, was the vivacious name for a native of North Carolina. Miss Bixby, who modestly felt the need in herself of an added touch of vivacity, impressed the term upon a memory* which, surcharged with knowledge, had been known to be treacherous. However profound a conversation is destined to become, it should begin, in society, Miss Bixby was aware, with graceful nothings. “You are a tarheel, I believe?” it seemed to her would serve the purpose of breaking the ice. He was handsomer and more intellectual looking than she had expected, even; also shyer and more reserved. The polite commonplace which she had prepared would be just the thing to set him at ease. Raising her voice, she addressed him across her friend’s dinner table., “I believe. Prof. Clark,” she remarked, with sweet graciousness, “that you are a tadpole.”