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"