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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1909)
THE OREGON SUNDAY. JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 81, 1909. ii I,;f I WAS as old as seven when ..I eloped. , 1 With a little boy named Harold who lived H nvt Aner T haA it a A an ' ."nnrtarittanHtaff" (or' year two years, if I.' remember rightly. At any rate, the "understanding" Came - about at a Sunday-school picnic where1 I choked on a wild strawberry and they all thought I had swallowed my ear-fare-home, a calamity always causing wildest excitement at a picnic;' By MARION HAMILTON CARTER .... '.He said, "All right for you,Lilyl Next time I "ask' -you to marry riie, you'll know it !" - And I .retorted, -"Next time,! tell you I villi,' vou'll know it," and .with one breath f e both cried tragically : "All right for you !" and turned our backs on eaclTother. v i' Harold walked slowly away, his. eyes on the ground; I walked rapidly, my nose in the air, to the Summer- ' house where I dissolved forthwith 'upon a miniature' handkerchief. Grief, mortification,!' self-reproach and and Harold - ana afterward iouarht one Eddr Mooner for calling toe''-'" : ' ' '' " ' ' '"J . -. ' and afterward fought one Eddy Mooney for calling me "Sissy Chokeberry," nobly' receiving in my behalf a .crlpson nose.,; J repaid hjs injury with several tears ;'and a kiss,and haughtily assured the Mooney boy that I my mama would never, never let me -play with him; to J which he made answer that he never, never wanted to 'play with me and that my mama could not hire him ,to do so "for a bag of peanuts. Further hostilities t were cut short" by the superintendent, and Harold and I departed with arms tenderly entwined. It was after that that the "affair" came to be recognized by both families. My bi-brother, i who was a sub-freshman at Harvard, told me every day to remind him when V - . toe event was to.come oft IVivso he could "be on deck with the , weep-rag" ; my big sister, sub-sub-freshman at Vassar," begged me not to elope,' "because it would be too dreadful not to have the first wedding of the family in church withy all our aunts and cousins there to see how I 'bore the strain,'" and they kept up and kept it up, until ran away to Harold ana told him if I had to stand it another single day, I'd die! Harold took my woe soberly" and held my hand. I prodded a response by re peating that I'd die Pd go dowrt to the creek and jump in and then they'd feel sorry I , "No, Lily," answered Harold, judicially, "we won't do that-we'll elope that'll show jin what we tan do." To whiclv I an swered, "Yes, Harold, we will," holding tight his : hand w hile he went on - "An' they'll nuvvcr know one word about it till we're ' all married ah' settled "at my grandmama's !" I interjected joyously. '"Cos the always said when I got 'tnarried I was to come an live with her." ' "No, at my grandmama's," he corrected, " 'cos the always said when got married I was to bring my wife to her house." And I said, "No, Harold, at mine's"; and he saH No, Lily, at tniue's," and the angry words that fol lowed came near wrecking our romance. "Oh. Harold, don't, you want to get married?" I burst out, finally, He dug a vicious heel into the turf "No-not jf I lave to live with' your grandmama.'' " 'N'en nuvver do I so there !" v : , isnoop8eooQcMos lint .'rl--.r..'c. .. ZT-Tf ' ' "EJa i '' We decided to elope the very next day, late' in the afternoon,' and to gather in such sustenance' for Jhe journey as could be begged at lunch time, or "sneaked" from the pantry. I made so many interested inqui ries as to the -route to my grandmama's that Edward, my brother, after saying that "you rode sixty miles due west in the train and "got out . and walked and you wouldn't know it when. you came to it," wound up with a whojp and declared he believed I was 'contem- "Oh, do let Lily alone, E d w a r d," said sister. "You're too mean for any thing. 'You'll have her crying in a minute; you1 forget she's only a little with my secret if I were only a little girl I stalked out of the dining room, sniffing, as I went tip-stairs, "Guess you'll find out who's the 'little girl' when I'm 'loped." Into my doll's trunk both ' my effects and Harold's were to go. The tray was reserved for rations. I had one other treasured object I couldnot forsake a tin kitchen, which seemed an . important adjunct to our housekeeping; in it you could burn as many as five match-sticks all at once, if carefully prepared. , When the coast was clear I took these to the trysting place our Summer-house where Harold was al- ... ready waiting with his boxing-gloves, ball and bag of But look here," cried I, opening the hat compartment In the tray, "I sneaked that for you," and with pride I lifted out a tartine and held it under his nose. Now a tartine is a slice of bread with a thick, thick spread of jam to be a really, truly tartine, the jam should be thicker than the bread, much; and I ex plained how I had first sneaked , the bread, and later, when all the house was snoring, had gone in my nightie to the pantry and sneaked the jam. "Take a little lick, Harold, 'n' see if it ain't good." Harold licked and said, "Yum! You take a lick, Lily; it's good." So I took a 'lick andvhe another; and I burst out, "Oh, Harold I we're eating it all up,' in' I wanted to jave it till we started P With that he piled the provisions into the tray tartine and all slapped down the lid and shouted "Now we're off!". He was; I ran after, dragging Florinda by an arm and hugging the tin kitchen. When I caught up with him at the hole in the hedge, we tried to put the kitchen into the trunk but it wouldn't go: "Let's leave it," I suggested, "an' come back for it when we're married." Harold's wisdom prevailed with this counsel "If we don't get to your grandmama's to-night, we'll need it to cook our supper with. You won't have to carry it, Lily I see how I can fix it." He put a string through two holes in the back and hung the object round his peck. And thus we crept away to embark in matrimony, he, dear, chivalrous little soul, carrying our trunk, our kitchen on his breast We trudged along silently it was a solemn step, now that we were really' off. Harold 'held my hand and we changed as the trunk grew heavy. We had still to solve the weighty problem in.. arithmetic : could wc buy a ticket all the way for twenty cents; and if wc couldn't, could we buy one nearly all the way and then get out and walk the, rest? When we were still a mile from the station, a dog cart came spinning along. "Why, it's Daddy!" I cried, with a sinking of the heart that not even Harold's squeeeing hand could save. Daddy half started to jump out, but suddenly sat ,back and said : " "You have really decided to do it?" 'Yesir, we have," Harold answered; and stood "Isn't there?" asked Harold, straightening up. , "I'm ,so glad, .sir," and he changed the trunk from one' hand to the other. Daddy stooped, took the trunk and put it irt the front of the dog-cart. A . v "Let it stay there till we're done talking! . Harold, I mean it as man to roan there isn't any one I'd father trust Lily to; but ".isn't this rather sudden?" i inMt -yvA 'y It S v. V .marbles-JLeyed-his impedi- hanging-the trunk-from one hand- to- the other. Ve looked at each other, but Harold answered, "Ive wanted to marry Lily for ever V ever so long-havcn't ,1, Lily? n' haven't you, Lily?" ; V .V "Yes, Harold." "I knew it must be that way for you," said Daddy. "But for tnc,. now perhaps you hadn't thought of that? "Is it?" asked Harold. "Isn't it, though! and to lose you both at one. fell sfcoop for you won't Ik coming over any more to see ' us every day, the way you used, and I'll miss our talks and things and Lily gone and, the houe so quiet ; whatever I'll do I don't know I just don't know don't know " and he' looked away over our heads, I stared at Harold and up at Daddy ; Harold looked down at the dust he was pushing into ripples with his toe. : "It's hard on a man, Isn't it? I put it to you, Har old," went on Daddy, "to lose his little Igirlfiallf at once, with no time to think it over and get8ase(igto it?" ' ItraBsL bcLaid-HaJoId; inaniufly-vvliile. TgoL- menta with the coldness other young ladies feel un der similar circumstances "What do we want of those, Harold ? I can't box." "Of course, you can't box, Lily, who said you "Well, I wish you all kinds of happiness and good luck," said Daddy. "You're on your way to the sta tion?" Harold said, "Yes, sir." Then Daddy said, "Well I mustn't keep you wait ingyou're wanting to be off on your trip," and he threw us a kiss. A big hollow seemed to swell in my side as he dis- choky, thinking of poor Daddy losingxrJboththat way all in a minute, and I squeezed -Daddy's hand as hard we re . -g AND THUS WE CREPT AWAY TO EMBARK 4N MATRIMONY. till an atftn slipped round me and Harold's voice said, "Oh, Lily! Arc you cryin'. Lily? Please don't cry! What arc you cryin' for, Lily?" ...I went: "Ump-ump-ump I'm cryin' 'cos you won't . live 'ith my grandmama when we're married." He squeezed my little -hand "Oh, Lily, if you'll only stop cryin', why, Lily km'" Our lovers' quarrel the only one we ever had ended by my crying more on his shoulder to show him how nearly he had lost me as his bride; then I coy4y allowed myself to be cheered with plans for our honeymoon" at my grandmama's. turning over my doll s things until I exclaimed, "You're mussing her party dress all up!" goading him into retorting, "Well, what do you want those things for? I can't play with dolls." "Oh, Harold, you do!" "Not after this. People v don't play with dolls when they're married the gentle man is always a railroad president, or something like that " I cut him short in dismay "Ain't you goin' to play dolls with me any more never?" "Well sometimes maybe." t . "Then that's what I'm takin' 'em for for some times." . He handed his things to me "You put 'cm where you think they better go, Lily An' look here what I got I sneaked that for you, Lily." It was a chocolate eclair, enfolded in newspapers. I was filled with joy. could?" he replied, briskly appeared. I believe mostA brides feel that way for a few minutes; it's the gulf Iiere the Old ends and the New hasn't begun. Harold looked ahead and swallowed hard. "Come, Lily," he said. "We'd better" go, Lily." . And slowly, slowly, I followed toward the setting sun. .There was a clatter 'of hoofs behind. Turning, I cried, "Why, it's Daddy!" This time Daddy jumped down and I cuddled to him close. He said, very seriously, "I thought I'd have to see you both again before you went off for good though you'll bring Lily back to visit us; won't you, Harold?" "Oh, yes, sir of course, sir. We're not going far only to" "Grandmama's to live." I said. "So that's it! You must let hey ayne often, Harold, if you're so near." "Of course, sir. I'll let her come often as'shc wants to I'll let Lily do whatever she wants to, long's she's having a good time." Daddy put his hand on Harold's shoulder. "You're a bully little chap," he said; "and there isn't any one in the world I'd trust her to sooner than to' yourself not any one." ch all in a minute, and I squeezed -Daddy': -a"s ever I could, and HaroId'shandas hard as ever I , I could, and somehow, Daddy had both Harold's hand and mine together in his, "Couldn't you give an old man a, little more time?" Daddy asked, "just to get accustomed to the separation, just for the sake of our friendship, youknow, that goes back to the , first 'timjw met? Couldn't you bring Ljly home to supper at our house to-night?'" Our eyes said "yes" and; f'no." : Then Harold spoke out, "You see, sir, I would for you, 'cos you know how I feci about Lily but they all tease hep so; Ed ward teases her 'most of anything anf she can't stand it any more, an I can't, stand it not any mbre--so' we're going awajr'to live " " V Daddy answered quickly. "Neither can T stand it any more, Harold. I'm not going to'hare you and Lily i teased into eloping and driven out of house and home. If they can't stop it Pvelt'cd .'theaothersi too, so you needn't be afraid of them we'll elope all three together you and Lily and I and go on a honeymoon by our selves, while I show you what a good time really is. - "Ohi Harold oh, Harold!" I screamed. "Won't that ' be lovely!" . - " "Yes, Lily, if you like it, it will I better take you home right now, Lily." 1-1 - 7 And Daddy lifted his hat to Harold! "I thank you, Harold," he said, "and I'm proud of you proud to have you for a friend." The next minute they were shaking handsand before I got over the surprise of it 'all, we were tearing along in the dog-cart with clouds of dust, Daddy's arm about us both. . ' VI I THE OWLS' SCHOOL , - "Den both" dem owls laugh an' hoot like dcy crazy. So Mr. Barn Owl send out dc runners to run, an' de fliers to fly, an' de' crawlers to crawl, an' tell evep-- By GRACE MacGOWAM COOKE" 1ITTLE Patricia Randolph was laboriously teaching America her .letters. ' Most of the house-servants on the Randolph plantation were taught to read and write, and Patty had begui early with this young nurse girl, wVfV brought to the. , ai'J 3 : j ua - mem -flM-- Jinsey was the new brother. mighty glad you ain't d umc, kind o'- teacher dat Mr. Owl was, when tie teach school," America Observed finally with a significant 'i t w . yjAlR.Vtira, J ' busy with U. OWt nt JtklL K TAUXB tlXt w CT-cr a ua." Tate and Isabel had been mirg stip mach longer thaa they lAcl Is it a taleT the little boy UVei. "If it's a tale, tell it to us, 'Meriky. Wc don't want to hear any more old A B Cs." Perhaps America herself was of that mind. Any . how, she pushed aside the primer, and they all settled themselves on the gallery steps to listen, as she began: "You know dat Mr. Owl is 'mos' blind in de day tintt. He bleegc to git out in de night to hunt his rations, 'case he cain't sca'cely see when de sun shine. But most folks ain't know how come dis. Hit come w-dis-er-way.- De big bam Out trilghty pore, an' he have a mighty hard time to git along. Oue day he say to he little brother, dc squmch owl, dat he gwine have him a school. . "1 gwine an git me a yaller leaf to write on an' a stick la write" on hit wid. an!" Some stump-water for dc ink,' he say.' An I gwine have me a school, for to teach er, um lemrne see, what: kind O little young critters? Aw, yaa, 111 dest teach little doves.' "'Huh,' ay de little jwirelly squinch omt, T don't see how dat gwine he'p yon oot nohe.' ; I big owl lanph way down m he froat;' Hoo! Hoof Ha! Haf he say. "You watch me an wait. When I gits a nice bunch o" dem yow.g, tender cloves . on a limb in frqnt o me," I aint gwine go bongry lJt : " ' J"KO, HIT AIJf'T O ATS a, AT XL D"U body dat he gme keep school for oWs. Mr. and Mix. Dvve mighty proud to hare a school to send dry yvung-ims to. . Yrt, d school basinets plumb new to 'em, ye know, an' dey nachuHy mighty skeerd o' de whole tribe- an' natioa o owU) ma' o, dest fiat fat day, dey hang "bout bthind de basnet to wt how dry chilkm g me git on at a "achool what bin tracbed by a ol - ' "Mr. Owl tie riAde yaller traf ep on a Lr wid a big honey-locus' thorn. Den he make a big A, up on dc yaller leaf. 'What dat? he ax dem little doves", dest like Miss Patty ax me." America stole a humor ous sidelong glance at her small mistress, and all the children laughed. "'Coo cool" say all de little doves at once. Dat dove talk, an dc onliest word dey knows. "Mr. Owl let on like he mighty mad. 'No!' he hol ler; 'No! dat not Q hit's A! "Den be make anodder letter on de yaller leaf, an' ax agin: "'What dat?' "Dc little doves powerful steered by now. Dey hunch all up togedder on de limb, an'ashake like dey cold. Dey mighty skeered o Mr. Owl big shiny eyes. Dey voices trirale when dey tries to talk. "Coo 1' dey say, "Coo -oo! coo-ooo! "'No, hit ain't Q dat's B, say Mr. Owl. "Hi- don't look like a bee,' say de oldest little dove boy. 'A bee have wings, an' our mammy say dat a bee have a stinger. She say we mustn't eat 'cm, 'case dey 11 sting u an' fcnrt tas tf we da "Mr. Owl mighty hongry; an when dat dove boy talk "bout eatm hit dest make hint wild. He holler so dat Mr. and Mix. Dove, behind de bashes, git closter to dey ehillen. .".. -"Hit's time to eat,' old Mr. Owl holler. " 'But w didn't bring bo snack,' say de dove chillen. 'May we go borne an git somepui to eat, bow, please, sua. Teacher? - ' "Mr, Owl grki mighty fierce. ' He snap be beak. " "Oh, ye, yon h, be say. Yoa it brmg aornepm foe im to eat An" I gwine to cat you tvery one p ! Dat what I gwine to do." , "By dat. be lep at de little doves. Drm po skeered. trira'lw dove chClea fcoHtr an flop an flutter; aa Mr. and Miz. Dove wtfrl in. Dey peck dat oT owl ta de eye so fierce dat he ain't never been able to find his way 'bout in dc daytime since. "More dan dat, he never got no doves to cat, an' he. show by dem doin's dest what he is. Mr. an' Mir. Dove tell hit on him, an' hit git out all over de Big Woods, tell dey ain't nary' critter pore an' hongry enough to sen' dey chillens to he school. .--.; - l ew un as'cn me a xkllim ur . 'to warra oj "Hit com down teTl in dre Ia aa' !; f ' t' 'ftoujh to ntii. vt in de B ghH uie r; . jj krtch him vp a striy roou"
