Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 187, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1917 — His Ideal. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

His Ideal.

By Jessie Ethel Sherwin

(Copyright/ by W. G' Chapman.) “Some fish that, eh?” warbled Ned Driscoll, puffing up with pride and complacency. “Quite a catch,” answered Pierce Marvin and hy continued to gaze steadfastly at-the card photograph, his fellow club member had been showing around to his'friends and acquaintances as fast as they came into evidence. “Seventeen pounds,” ran on Driscoll glibly. “Sort of hit the record up there around Mirror lake. Even the natives stared. Sort. of catches you, don’t it, Marvin?” chuckled the speaker, as his companion showed some reluctance the photograph. “Why, yes, for a fact,” replied Marvin. “You don’t happen to have a duplicate, do you?” “Sure thing!” volunteered Driscoll with alacrity, Immensely flattered at what he regarded as direct homage paid to his skill as an angler and the facsimile presentation of a pictorial prodigy. “Yog can keep that. I’ve got a half dozen more.” “Thank you,” said Marvin and with a ’ last glance at the card stowed it carefully away and submitted to be bored by Driscoll’s detailed description of how he had hooked the big fish up at Mirror lake. He was a shallow, conceited fellow, given to exaggerated stories of his hunting and fishing exploits, and but for the tangible evidence of the photo-his boastfulness would have been greatly discounted. Marvin later dropped info the studio of his artist friend, Lee Bennett, whom he found temporarily absent, sat down

to wait for his return and proceeded to take another look at the photograph. It represented Ned Driscoll, jolly and smiling and holding up a spring scale ,at the end of which was hooked a mammoth pickerel. %It was certainly a monster of its class, and, as the original had been seen, discussed, verified as to weight and enjoyed by members of the club, Driscoll had some reason to be proud. The scene in the photo showed three or four other amateur fishermen admiringly regarding the trophy. Near by was a veteran fisherman, Indubitably a native. Her arm linked in his in a loving daughterlike way was a girl, smiling archly and with a face which held Marvin spellbound. He was a lover of beauty and here it certainly shone forth in a species of wild rose loveliness that was entrancing. Marvin started as his shoulder was brushed slightly and he looked up to meet the quizzical gaze of the young “I’m of your mind,” pronounced the latter promptly. “You have found another face well worthy of the homage of painter and poet.” That word, “another,” cut Marvin to the quick and he flushed slightly. Author, dilletante, heir to a fortune, amid even this seemingly ideal environment he was a dissatisfied dreamer. One of his popular books had been built about a dark, sensuous beauty whom he had Introduced to the world as his ideal heroine. To his readers she still remained the same. To Marvin there had come a rude awakening. He had never been in love with her, but he had admired her, only to be disenchanted, for in real life she turned out to be a selfish, heartless coquette. “There is something about that face that is witchery, pure and simple,” he told Bennett frankly. “Perhaps the combination of wild scenery, real human nature and all that gild the picture, but the girl so fully harmonizes with "the environment that I shall seek a new inspiration amorig the woods and hills of Mirror lake.” “And the girl,” intimated Bennett, a slight smile upon his lips. “Gladly enough,” confessed Marvin frankly. “I shall get the sylvan beauty In a larger focus and you .shall perpetuate her loveliness in a pretentious way.” * ' , - Marvin was a man of deep impressions and a lasting one had been,. Im-* parted to him by the winsome face in

the photograph. Ned Driscoll would have been sadly depressed had he comprehended the real attraction for Marvin in the picture. Marvin reasoned that he made his living, or rather his fame, in studying humanity. Here was a subject that vitally attracted him. Why not exploit the incident? New scenes and new characters would stimulate society-surfeited experiences, Pierce Marvin made up his mind, and by the end of the week he was on his way to Mirror lake. There was a dance at the one public hall of the settlement the night he arrived, located on the top floor of the somewhat Indifferent hotel at which he had put - up. The people residing around the lake, except for summer visitors, were homely, homespun and honest, the atpiosphere of the dance hall healthful,’ cheery, all friendliness. The moment his eyes rested upon a girl with dazzling eyes and glowing cheeks he recognized the original of the picture. He watched her graceful movements, the innocent enjoyment of the occasion throbbing and natural. She was really a study, however. He learned her name. It was Vinnie Brand. Her uncle, a diamond in the rough, her cousin, a young woodsman as artless as herself, completed a characteristic frontier trio. Marvin sought an introduction and danced twice with her. She looked up at his handsome, courteous face with pride and a sort of veneration. “The pleasantest evening of my life,” decided Marvin, as he went to his room after midnight. “I shall cultivate her,” but he did not meet her as he hoped the next day and learned that she had gone with her, relatives on a fishing trip down the lake. He was trying his luck at a secluded cove the next afternoon, and poor luck at that, when he noticed coming down the beach Vinnie and her cousin. The girl carried a great monster of a fish over her shoulder at the end of a rope. She discovered Marvin and halted. There was a confab with her companion. She shifted the fish to him. Then both approached, the lad in the foreground, Vinnie rather shyly holding back. “It’s a twenty-pounder, mister," said the boy. “It’s yours, and the weighing scales and the photograph thrown in, for five dollars.” “I don’t understand you,” spoke Marvin, but he soon did, and comprehended the merit of Ned Driscoll’s phenomenal catch. “They all buy,” said the lad naively, “and go home and brag about their ‘big haul.’ ” “But I do not care to boast of what I have not attained,” explained Marvin. “Where do'you catch these monsters, anyhow?” “I will be glad to show you tomorrow,” spoke Vinnie quickly and then and there an arrangement was made for the morrow. What a day of sport! What a charming guide and companion, w’ho showed not the slightest restraint in the company of a man she instinctively recognized regarded her with respect and admiration. Vinnie, Indeed, knew the secret haunts of the big fish. They were started homoward and crossing the lake at Its broadest part near some small islands, when the girl viewed the darkening sky with a serious glance and rowed the faster. “Uncle said we would have a blow,” she spoke. “Hold fast to the side of the boat. It’s coming.” The furious blast came with hurricanelike velocity. That only Marvin realized, as the boat was sent whizzing ahead against a rock. The contact lifted him clear out of the boat, and the next he knew he was lying on the ground on one of the little islands and Vinnie was placing a dripping bandage to his bruised brow. She had saved his life and had sprained her wrist In dragging him to safety. That he did not know until two hours after the storm, when the old fisherman and his nephew came to the rescue. Two hours the twain had been companion castaways. Two hours braving the intense pain she experienced, Vinnie Brand had kept up a oheerfng chatter to make one she Considered an honored guest forget the gloom and discomfort of his situation. “I can never forget her and do not wish to,” determined Marvin the next morning, and walked over to the home of the old fisherman and told Vinnie that he loved her.

Came With Hurricanelike Velocity.