Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1886-10-21
HAP HAZARD.
By Myrtle M. Koon, Lisbon, Mich

! wish you could have seen Hap
| Hazard and her cousin Ted as they
came home from ramble in the FIELDS
together that June day. They were
! very spirited, the girl little mora so
than the boy, il anything Which was
the girl. YOU askp Why Hap, of course.
And may as well stop right here and
explain about that name, for if don't,
you won't listen to my story. Hap al
ways had to be explained before any
one could understand her
You see, when Hap was born her
grandmother Grandma Hazard-in
sisted that the first offspring of her
iavorite son should bear her name,
which was nothing less than Heppa-
lonia. OF course Grandma must
be humored, so the baby was named
as she desired, though it
cost an effort on the part of the young
mother to give up the Grace May"
she had planned for her first girl. The
name was shortened to 'Heppy' before
long, and finally when cousin Ted was
adopted into the family, the name
FLAP" came rs naturally as though it
was part OF the girl herself BY the
NIliiC duOtllNl llbllC gil SOult
ears later, to take the waiting name
Grace May--Hap' name was no longer
discussed as a curiosity.
Now if you are satisfied as to my
girls name, will proceed to tell you
how these to cousins looked as they
walked home with arms full of ferns
and moss. Ted was not so tall as his
cousin, and was little quieter with
pleasant grey eyes shaded with long
black eye-la hes. AS for Hap-the
dear girl! | wonder if you would have
loved to look at her as l always did,
She had a tall. willowy
figure. and air that had caught a sun
set in it. as Grace always said
This red hair ESQ called by Ted)
had been source of much annoyance
10 Hap. although her artistic sense told
her it was not unlovcly When she
was baby, Aunt Hannah Simpson had
said She's good an fat, but she's as
humbly II child as ever set eyes on.
That red hair shows what temper
she'll hcv. And ever in after years
when this cheerful dame saw Hap's
graceful ways and good kind
ness, she would say: "Well. Hippy,
YOU amt so ugly-minded as | thought
YOU d be, but it may crop out yit.
There's the red hair, same as ever -"
It had come TO be standing joke in
the family; but while the hair kept
growing long and lustrous the ugly
mindcdness, contrary to Aunt
Hannah's expectations, didn't seem to
''crop out
oh Ix.sNw
like her hair and to describe them in
the words of her friend Maude Shumann,
''you could look right through them
into somewhere that was a nowhere
and yet very omewhere at the same
time" They were dark with gold
and red lights, and n merry CLEAN that
made you feel good humored whether
you wanted to or not.
AS the co sins walked gaily along the
rough fields of the Hazard farm, had
You hem listening you might have
heard some very lively conversation
with nov and then a peal of Haps
merry laughter. She was talking The
most, and seemed to be the more posi-
tive of the two in every way, but her
easy sympathetic manner always made
the lonely, awkward boy Of eighteen
feel at ease in h,r presence. They
sometimes had little disputes, but on
the whole they got along nicely togeth-
er and were fast friends. Just now
Hap was giving Ted lecture.
snow my lad" she was saying "you
must polish up little before you go to
college. You re asgood as-as a crow"
FLAPS SMILES always would get crook
ed, somehow ''but you don't seem to
think much of polish. Now
"Oh stop that. Hap Hazard put in
Ted, II don't eat with my knife any
way, and you know you don't like a
dandy"
"But ] do like dandy" answered
Happy (''Happy" was Grace's name
for her sister, and like it rather better
than the blunt nickname.) That is, i
like him if he has brains and uses them
The trouble is nowadays, if boy knows
anything, he generally neglects his
toilet, and if he does manage to keep
his collar straight, he forgets to be
sensible Now a girl"
Eyes a girl" interrupted Teddie
with an oratorical air, "a girl, my
hearers, is different. Look at
this delightful specimen as bright as
sixpence, and yet notice how neatly
her back hair has tumaled down, how
tidil this collar has come unpinned,
and with what majestic care this hat is
set on hind side before Indeed, as the
poet aptly remar $ We are fearfully
and wonderfully made" Ted invari
ably ended his fine speeches with this
quotation. whether appropriate or not.
Edward Hazard Remers," said
Happy impressively, paying not the
slightest attention to Ted's oratorical
outburst MY ION, there are more
things in heaven and earth for You to
learn than are dreamed of i'm your
philosophy as, well as Hap Hazard
says. One thing is not to interrupt
when your elders are talking. Now
don't remind me that | am not your
elder-I ought to be, and really, girl
is older at sixteen than boy Mt
eighteen, I've heard Grandma say so.
You must learn to-Oh, Ted want
that butterfly for my collection, can't
YOU get him.
~ eally, cousin deah' said the lad.
with shipper, III would be most de.
lighted 10 oblige you, but winning is
not consde genteel, and besides, 1
might soil my shoes
Happy gave him whitening. glance,
and then, with one graceful leap,
threw down her large hat over the
butterfly. She busted herself from
then until they reached home with