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Show Mrs. Charles M. Henrotin (Nee Alff), Huntress. The following from the St. Louis Republic is a fair sample of the distorted facts that appear about people regularly in the "yellows" of the big cities. It tells the breathless reader of the daring feats of one of our former society belles, and the only truthful thing in the article is the fact that Miss Alff and Mr. Henrotin became engaged in this city. The Republic says: Some time this week a beautiful American girl, now on a steamer that sailed from Southampton, England, July 24th. will reach Capetown, South Africa. She is Miss Irma D. Alff, and she is on the way to meet and marry the man she learned to love in the mountains of Utah. Charles M. Henrotin of Chicago is the man who won her heart, and to whom she will plight her troth at Capetown, August 19th. After the marriage mar-riage is solemnized ho will take his brave bride to Kimberley the Kimberley where the diamonds areand install her queen of the luxurious home he has built among the flowers and trees. Miss Alff is a typical Western American girl. The same courageous spirit that steadied her arm when she used to bring the mountain bear to earth, with a rifle, is serving her well as she goes to a strange land, 10,000 miles away. Bravery of spirit yes, but to it is added the bravery of love. "There is no danger I would not face to prove my love," said Miss Alff, the day she left her native na-tive soil and started on her long journey, half-way round the world. Romance? "Was there evere a true love story without it? There is romance in this one not the impossible kind, but the simple, same romance that appeals to one's good sense and does not weave itself into the ephemeral dreams of a schoolgirl. school-girl. In the hills about Salt Lake City was the fa-orite fa-orite trysting place of Miss Alff and Mr. Henrotin. Henro-tin. They both loved the chase. Miss' Alff was a fearless hunter. Her aim with a gun was deadly, lior courage dauntless. Mr. Henrotin Wiis essentially essen-tially an athlete and a lover of outdoor life. As a student in Cornell university he shone on the field of sport. The magnificent physique which he builded there was carefully nourished when he went to Utah to make his way in the world as a man of business. Coupled with a soul of culture was a body of brawn. He was one who would naturally be attracted at-tracted by the daring of the Western girl, whose own nature was mellowed and beautified by contact con-tact with the best there was in the life of the East. i Miss Alff w?.s born in Utah. The spirit of the I great West was strong in her. Her cheeks glowed j ft'ith the health and strength that the mountain air gave her. She was charmingly unconventional as she sat her horse and rode the rough highways j round about her home. As the dangers of the trail fascinated her, so also her splendid audacity fasci- Hated the man who rode with her as her com- Panion on the hunt. j It was the old, sweet story, with the mountains fr a petting. Mr Henrotin fell in love with the dashing girl, and she reciprocated. In a moment of superlative danger when a bullet from Miss Alff's gun laid low a huge bear, the intrepid suitor , w he had found his affinity, and he was not J'ow to make his discovery known. What he said tor him and the beautiful huntress to know, but pen they went back to Salt Lake City it was to carry the news of a mutual pledge to the good folk at home. B Carrely had the engagement been announced en Mr. Henrotin was offered an attractive posl- n with the De Beers Consolidated mines, in 9uth Africa, He did npt let sentimental consider ations stand in the way of his going, and Miss Alff approved the long journey and the far-away residence, resi-dence, though the pang of separation was as keen to her as to any other girl who had given her heart and hand to the keeping of another. It was twenty months ago that Mr. Henrotin bade her bood-bye and went away. Since then his advancement has been rapid. Today he is manager mana-ger of the Kimberley diamond mines, the most important im-portant property of its kind in South Africa. Life holds so much of promise to him there that he decided de-cided to make it his home indefinitely and to ask the girl of his choice to come and be his queen in fact. Miss Alff hesitated not a moment. Two months ago she forsook the old home, rode alone to Chicago, Chi-cago, spent a month with the family of her fiance, sailed from New York to England, and thence, under the chaperonage of friends, to Capetown. She left her own shores with small hopes of returning re-turning for years, but there never was a second of wavering from her decision. The same graces that won the heart devotion of Mr. Henrotin captured the other members of the family in Chicago. Mr. Charles Henrotin, speaking speak-ing of the prospective marriage and the principals, said: "We all found Miss Alff a most delightful and charming woman. She is a tall, handsome blonde, with the grace and repose that make her attractive in any circle. She was educated in a New York school and has a great many friends there. She and my son met on many ranches of Utah and Idaho and became congenial from the first because their tastes and likes were similar. Miss Alff is wonderfully familiar with animal life for a woman and tells an interesting story of her exploits. "There was really nothing unusual in the courtship, court-ship, except the environment, and that, I confess, has given it a tinge of romance somewhat out of the ordinary. We are much pleased with the match, and the same may be said truthfully of Miss Alff's family. It is certainly a test of a sweetheart's sweet-heart's love to go so far from home, friends and associations, and we admire Miss Alff all the more for it. "My son is now twenty-three years of age. He was graduated from Cornell, in the class of '97, with the degree of mechanical engineer, and was connected for a time with electrical firms in Chicago. Chi-cago. Then he went as a mining engineer to Utah, being identified last with the Highland Boy gold mine. When he was offered the position in South Africa he was assistant manager of the smelter. He consulted Miss Alff as to what he should do, and she bravely advised that he accept the offer. "He has been in South Africa twenty months, being originally mining engineer for the De Beers company, and then being promoted to assistant manager and later manager at Kimberley. Under his direction are thirty-five hundred native miners and three hundred white men. His is the largest and the best-equipped of the diamond mines in that country." |