very sad. We promised to wait for each other and marry some
day. Within the next two years he sent me gifts and I sent him
gifts and letters. His mother said he enjoyed getting the letters
but was too shy to answer them, and was very easily teased about
me. I was very proud of my lover, and told my new little friends
about him. I was very happy when he sent me a photograph of
himself neatly framed when he was about nine years old. Although
we still considered ourselves sweethearts we were each enjoying
love affairs at home. During my ninth year I had a lover about my
own age. He was very popular among all the girls because of the
gifts he distributed liberally. I was decidedly his favorite, and
was proud of the distinction. We were shy before grown people,
but at school were acknowledged lovers. While not openly
demonstrative, we took advantage of our games to show our love by
choosing each other and giving the kiss or other mark of
affection required by the game. We especially enjoyed walking
home from school together or playing together when no one else
was by. My heart was almost broken when it was discovered that he
had been stealing small sums of money for some time in order to
give me the gifts which had made me so happy. I was not allowed
to have anything more to do with him, and he soon moved away.
About this time I fell in love with a young man twice as old as
I. He worked in my father's office and boarded with us. I loved
to be with him, and was especially happy when he took me with him
to church or some entertainment. When he would take me by the arm
and help me through the deep snow I felt very grown up and proud
of his attention. He cared for me as a little girl and I
worshipped him as my knight. I was very jealous when he showed
any young lady attention. Soon after this my father died and we
moved to a lonely station on the prairie. Again I fell in love
with a man more than twice my age whom I saw very seldom. I was
very happy when he took me on his lap or caressed me. I was very
shy both with him and about him, but magnified every look and
word and act until I convinced myself that he loved me as much as
I did him. I was intensely jealous, and when I did waken to the
fact that he loved a young lady I was nearly heart broken. No one
dreamed of this except a girl co