The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-02-07

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father makes confectionery. We'll, she
went down to the store and picked ont
just the loveliest box of French candies
you ever saw. Wasn't it good Of her
to think of itP
tsWell, we all met ct Marie Stanton's,
right after tea, because that was near
est Manty's. And we took our sleds,
for we thought itwould be such fun
to tie them together and have some Of
the boys draw us. So Burt, and Eve
lyn's brother, and Mabel's, and i
don't know, there were I'VE or six Of
them-all went up to Marie's with us.
And oh! we did have such jolly time!
".Well, we all got there, and waited
and waited for Ethel Raymond. She
didn't come, and It was after seven
O'Clock. Will Montague was Just start-
| ing to go otter her, when the door-bell
rang, and in walked who do you
think? Mr.. Raymond and Ethel and
Belle Howard! Weren't we astonished!
l guess you'd have thought so, il
you'd been there; for we didn't sup
pose Belle knew thing about it. But
it seems she had found It out some way
and limited something about it to Ethel;
and, when she told her father, he said
he thought the kindest thing would be
for them to invite her to go with US. So
he went over there, with Ethel, after
tea, and suggested to Belle that size
should buy a valentine for Manly. And
they went with her to get one; and that's
why they were so late.
.sLwas real glad, on the whole; for,
to tell the truth, I'd felt rather uncom-
Portable every time I'd seen Belle. And
she was just as pretty as pink all the
evening and seemed to enjoy it as much
as anybody. So 1 suppose she wasn't
as bad as we'd thought she was. And
the valentine she bought was just love-
ly. OF course, she'd get q good one, il
she got any.
But what kind of q valentine do
you suppose Mr.. Raymond broughti
He's so funny! He said he wanted to
give Manly something, if he wasn't q
a girl. So he'd got beautiful volume
of Longfellow's Hanging of the Crane,
all done up in pink tissue paper and
marked "A Gift from St. Valentine
You know Manly is crazy about poetry.
And think it was just splendid of Mr..
Raymond; wasn't it?
swell, at last we got started. The
boys tied the sleds together, and there
we were, twelve of us in a long row,
and the boys to draw, with Mr. Ray
mond ahead. Wasn't that jolly party ?
Oh! didn't we have fun!
It's quite way to Manty's house.
Don't you know where he lives? Way
down in Chapel street, in little brown
cottage. It's real cunning little place.
And they aren't so dreadful poor. tor
Mrs. Wheaton owns the house; but
guess she hasn't much besides, and she
has hard work to get along, mamma
says. Well, the windows in the sitting
room are real low, and they always
keep the curtains up; though we were
awfully afraid they wouldn't be that
night. But they were.
eve were just as still as mice when
we got to the house. l didn't hardly
dare step, for the snow creaked so. II
was real cold. But Mr.. Raymond fixed
the sleds for us under the window, and
by standing up on them we could just
see in; and he held Mabel in his arms,
SO she could see splendidly.
Mrs. Wheaton was sewing and
Manly was reading aloud to her. Wasn't
it fun to be there looking in, and they
sitting there as unconscious as could
be?
"Well, the arrangement was for the
boys to take turns, and to leave only
one valentine at time, so that the rest
of us could have the fun of seeing him
open them. Burt left the first one, and
gave the bell an awful pull. That was
Marie Stanton's.
"Manty laid down his book and
went to the door: and pretty quick
came back with the valentine in his
hand. He seemed surprised. We
couldn't hear a word they said.
wished we could; but we couldn't get
near enough to the window for that.
Well, when he opened it he looked so
pleased. And he read the acrostic to
his mother, and then they both laughed.
just then the bell rang again; and
when he came back that time he looked
so funny and acted as if he didn't know
what to make of it. He sat down and
opened it. And that was Mabel's, and
they both laughed when they saw the
cat.
mabel was so pleased that she gig
gled right out; and Mr.. Raymond put
his hands over her mouth, for fear
they'd hear her. And the boys came
around to the window, to look in, too:
for they said we were having all the
fun. Then Will went back to leave an
other; and do you think-he's so full
of fun-he rang the bell, and before
Manly got back into the sitting-room
he rang it again. And he rung it like
that four or five times. He'd Just get
into the room when he'd have to 90
back to the door. Finally, Will came
racing around the corner OF the house,
just as Manly sat down, with his hands
full of things.
''He had my pictures and Edith 8
box of candies. You don't know how
funny he looked. He acted as if he
couldn't understand it. They'd take
up one and look at it, and then lay it
down, and take up another; and they
talked as fast! l did wish we could
hear what they said. But Mr.. Ray
mond said it was better that we
couldn't. l don't see why, though.
Before they'd looked those all over
Burt ran around to leave the rest. He
said he was going to leave Mr.. Ray
mond's book the last thing. Well, he
rung the bell two or three times, and
then came back to the window. He
told Julie that he'd left her necktie,
Mrs. Wheaton went to the door that
time, for Manly acted SO excited when
the bell rung again. He got up, and
then sat down again; and finally his
mother went.
"Well, they opened one. That was
Bellies. Then the next one had the lit
tie round slitted paper, and Burt said:
"'Now for your necktie, Julier'
MANLY read what it said on the out
side and then.took hold of the tassel;
but, as he raised it up, l saw something
shine and | heard Burt say, under his
breath:
asOh! I made mistake
"And then he ran off just as fast as
he could.
"You see that was Burt's. He made
one just like jules and fastened ter
dollar gold piece under there; and he
meant to leave it till the rest had all
gone, so we shouldn't know anything
about it. But he make mistake and
took the wrong one out of his pocket.
And what do you suppose Manly
did? He actually cried! He did. The
tears just rolled down his face. And
then looked at his mother and she was
crying. too.
- Well Mr.. Raymond said, we
have this
g So he sent Joe round to tell Burt to
hurry nm and leave tho root Tuot fhor,