Page:Lippincotts Monthly Magazine-40.djvu/99

Rh from the public that within three weeks of the marriage some of the bride-elect's most intimate friends were not aware of the engagement. Early in the spring of 1886 Miss Folsom and her mother went abroad for a short trip, visiting France and Italy, but avoiding as much as possible social attention, which would inevitably have resulted in intrusive discussion of the fact of the public honor awaiting her. American girls in Paris had long since made the fact of elaborate shopping un-notable: therefore Miss Folsom was able to procure her trousseau without exciting much comment. In Naples she encountered an old friend, who, having heard some rumor of her approaching marriage, asked her if such an event was soon to take place. Miss Folsom laughingly remarked that she would let her know in good time. The friend then requested her to promise to spend the honeymoon at Deer Park if she married President Cleveland. This was the reason for the selection made of that delightful spot in which the President and his bride passed the first two weeks of their married life. Passage was taken by Mrs. Folsom and her daughter on the Noordland; but, although many of the passengers suspected the state of affairs, all were too delicate to make any direct inquiry, and the young lady appeared as usual, affable and uniformly agreeable, ready to be considerate of others, and genial in her way of receiving the attentions of the ship's company or the cabin-passengers. As a device for killing time, one afternoon during rough weather Captain Codman suggested that each of the cabin-passengers should write a little story or set of verses to be read aloud for the edification of all. This resulted in a manuscript pamphlet called the "North Atlantic Spray," some numbers of which were read each evening. On one occasion the captain produced four pages of foolscap closely written, which he announced as a story called "Little Moll," written by Miss Folsom. The naïve plot was substantially as follows:

A reporter on a famous New York newspaper has for his almost daily occupation work in the criminal courts. The ferreting out of crime and the arrest of criminals and their daily punishment are hour by hour reported by the young man. Stories of crime black and foul as were ever written are daily unrolled before him, until his belief in human nature nearly perishes. But his faith is preserved through meeting a poor news-girl who comes and goes daily to the office for copies of the journal on which he serves. The sequel can be imagined. The reporter, steeped as he is in visions of the world's iniquity, and in daily danger of his life (since he had incurred the enmity of the criminal classes), has his life saved by "Moll." In return he places her at school, and ultimately marries her, after which we may suppose he leads a life in which the devious paths of the reporter are shunned.