tion: IDA MAKES HERSELF COMFORTABLE.]

"Yes," she said to herself, "it will be wise in me not only to make up
my mind that I will not grow to be an old maid, but to prevent people
from thinking I am going to grow to be one. I believe that people are
very apt to think that way about teachers. Perhaps it is because they
are always contrasted with younger persons. There is no reason why girl
teachers should be different from other girls. Marriage should be as
practically advantageous to them as to any others, only they should be
more than usually circumspect in regard to their partners; that is, if
they care for careers, which I am sure I do.

"Now the situation in this place seems to me to be one which I ought
seriously to consider. It is generally agreed that propinquity is the
cause of most marriages, but I think that a girl ought to be very
careful not to let propinquity get the better of her. She should
regulate and control propinquities.

"Here, now, is Mr. Lodloe. He seems to be a very suitable sort of a man,
young and good-looking, and, I think, endowed with brains; but I have
read two of his stories, and I see no promise in them, and I doubt if he
would sympathize with good, hard study; besides, he is devoting himself
to Mrs. Cristie, and he is out of the question. Mr. Tippengray is an
exceedingly agreeable man and a true student. To marry him would be in
itself a higher education; but he is not a bit young. I think he is at
least fifty, perhaps more, and then, supposing that he should retain his
mental vigor until he is seventy, that would give only twenty years of
satisfactory intellectual companionship. That is a point that ought to
be very carefully weighed.

"As to Mr. Beam, he is older than I am, but he is young enough. Upon the
probable duration of his life one might predicate forty years of mental
activity, and from what I have seen of him he appears to have a good
intellect. They talk about an aqueduct and waterworks he is about to
construct. That indicates the study of geology, and engineering
capacity, and such a bias of mind would suit me very well. Mrs. Petter
tells me that he is really and truly engaged to that old thing from
Lethbury; but as she also said that he is heartily tired of the
engagement, I don't see why it should be considered. He is as likely to
correct his errors of matrimonial inclination as he is those of
mathematical computation, and as for her, I should not let her stand in
my