A Leap-Year Tragedy
A parody of sentimental romance
A tongue-in-cheek melodrama, reprinted from the Chicago Tribune, mocking the era's leap-year courtship jokes with overwrought dialogue between reluctant lovers.
NewsPipe summary
Burlington Weekly Free Press · February 18, 1876 · Page 1
1 min readA leap-year tragedy. They stood together in the entry beneath the hall lamp. The young man said in a low voice, wherein were blended determination, melancholy and love, "You refuse my suit?"
"Yes, Ella," he replied in accents that were firm, though the speaker's voice trembled. "I admire you; I will be a brother to you, and watch with pride your course through life, and if ever trouble should befall you, there will be at least one friend to whom you can come for succor; but I can never, never be your husband."
"Is it because [...] Henry? For, oh, if that were all, I could toil gladly [...] and strive and win a home for you, humble it might be, but [...]"
"[...] Oh, weak man, I can never, never change my mind."
"Then, cruel young man, so fair and yet so [...] farewell. Farewell forever [...] mangled remains on the lecture platform. [...] she fled into the outer darkness." — Chicago Tribune.
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