The Henderson Heartbreaker and His Ouachita Woman
© city myths, narrative, folksongs,
Ouachita Baptist University is located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, about sixty-five miles from Little Rock on Interstate 30 and thirty miles south of Hot Springs. Arkadelphia, is also the home of Henderson State University. The two colleges have developed a friendly rivalship, like so many other neighboring schools throughout the United States have done.
Many years ago, there was a young gentlemen at Henderson who fell in love with a girl from the rival Ouachita Baptist University, ("wash -u-taw.") For the sake of the tale, let's call him Bobby and call her Angeline. I dare not speak their real names. They still have family in these parts and I wouldn't want to upset anyone. Bobby was handsome and intelligent. Everyone knew he was destined for greatness. Angeline was a great beauty, but was given to fits of moodiness. Bobby understood this to be part of her artistic temperament and loved Angeline all the more for it.
They were opposites all right. Extreme opposites. Angeline was Baptist. Bobby was Protestant. She was eccentric and high strung, determined to become a famous novelist. She loved gothic mysteries. She loved horror stories and worshipped Edgar Allan Poe. Bobby, on the other hand, was calm, collect, logical and cool. His friends referred to him as unflappable. He was determined to become a lawyer, obtain the position of a district attorney, and then proceed to sit, first as a local judge, and then complete his career as a United States Supreme Court Justice. His friends had no doubt in their minds that he was going to fulfill all of his dreams. They also had no doubt that Angeline was a liability for Bobby. She didn't fit in. She didn't fit the profile of an attorney's wife. She was not right for Bobby. So, Bobby's friends set out to destroy Bobby and Angeline's love affair. They constantly reminded Bobby of how improper she seemed and how improbable it was that he could advance in life with her by his side. Why, Angeline was close to mentally ill what with all those moods and such.
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