The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-09-14

fidelity to truth. A long, dusty, coun-
try road, winding between sloping
lawns, newly plowed fields with
stretches of waving cornstalks fenced
about by rails, then running between
meadows where browsed the contented
cows. Then past the meadows until at
length il led to the little red school
house on the side of the hill shaded by
the big chestnut trees. 1t was a
drowSy, sleepy summer afternoon, and
the bees, with all their industrious
humming among the nodding flowers,
seemed to call to the weary scholars
that it was ''play-time; that nuts were
ripe. that there were brooks waiting
for fishermen, and there were fishes
hungry for bait" These and other
seditious thoughts they put into their
idle but fruitful minds, but it was not
| play-time all the same, nor vet would
it be for very long time. One of the
boys had been disobedient, and was
being punished. He was sitting on
double bench beside girl, and all the
boys were pointing fingers of scorn at
him upon the sly, and openly casting
| chances on him of the most derisive
| disdain. If he remembered the pretty
| girl he had Just left in the ball room,
! he would see 4 strong resemblance
between her and the victim of this bad
| bows wickednesS; and he also would
have seen no slight resemblance be-
tween the baShful boy with the ruddy
cheeks and the youthful culprit in the
school room.
You didn't care very much what
the BOYS thought about YOU just then.
did you?" whispered MeIsory. Again
he wisely refrained from committing
himself. Then another scene was
brought before the bridegroom un-
willing gaze. 1t was dusk. And the
winding path which led beside the
,ambling brook could hardly be seen i'll
;he gloom. Still it was light enough
.or two Young persons to see each
other and the path and every thing else
shat they wanted TO. One hand of the
hoy found comfort and rest encircling
the waist of his rustic companion.
What they were saying need not be
told.
do YOU recOllect that evening?
Now. tell me honestly. did you ever
when YOU were a very young man and
went To parties and sociables and
dances with the girls. whether you ever
thought at that time you would like TO
marry, poor as you were, and enjoy, life
in a c0ttage?" maliciously inquired
Memory, mOcking even Mrs. Bascom's
tone.
Whatever else mischievous and veXa-
tious Memory would have painted and
whatever it would have asked more en-
moving than those already asked must
always remain a mystery, for at this
very second the patience of the bride,
! like every thing else in this mortal
world, had come TO an end. and Mr..
! Bascom was recalled 10 the present
and its pleasures from the past and its
horrors, happily buried among the al
most forgotten incidents in the store
house to which Memory only holds the
KEY. The same signal At the same
| instant reduced our reminiscent
friend to very much less than his usual
size. and with the awakening of the
| bridegroom lac relapsed into a slumber
| from which he will never be awakened
| if Mr.. DascOm is consulted first.
~ thought you forgotten all about
lay question, so | pulled your sleeve TO
call it to your attention. Now tell me;
really, did you ever have such ideas of
| love?"
With a guilty glance about the porch,
through the leaves, over the lawn, even
to the base of the mountains in the
distance, to see if his enemy could
possibly have escaped and yet be at
large, finding no traces of him, how
ever, with sigh of relief he made
haste TO reply with enthusiastic
sincerity: ''Of course not, my dear.
What ever pst that in your head? You
know | never loved any body butyOu."
A few minutes later the bride had dis
appeared. The cigar was relighted.
The ashes on the vest were dislodged.
The sun came out from the cloud. But
the cigar had lost its fragrance. and the
warmth of the sun had cooled. The
first moment of discomfort in the honey
moon was there. With another sigh,
this time one of relief, Mr.. Bascom's
face fghtened and his lips widened
into a smile of pleasure. Why not? OF
course! Memory had told no one else.
He was the only person who had seen
the pictures. Nobody had given him
AWAY.
| The first moment of discomfort in
the honeymoon was gone.-Benjannin
N0rthrOp, i9l n. Y. Graphic.
|