Wichita eagle., 1889-06-23
THE FOUR LITTLE MAIDS.
a Pretty Little Incident in the Travels
Henry Howe in Ohio.

a Pretty Little Incident in the Travels of
Henry Howe in Ohio.
On the plank walk on the outskirts I met
two little girls 1 stopped them and said,
where are you going, my little girlsl" and
they replied, ITO the primary, SIR" And
then I inquired of one of them, ''How old are
Whereupon the other chimed in, 81, too, am
nine" "That," remarked, "makes eighteen
years of little girls" By this time two other
of their mates had come up and, pausing, l
asked each how old she was, and each an
swered as the others, in the soft, musical
tones Of childhood, mine, sir" THAT" said
|, makes in all thirty-six years of little
girls"
l wanted to hold this interesting group, so
pointing to an oak near by, the symmetry of
which had arrested my eye, said, SIS not
that beautiful treea What kind of tree is
itF" when one of them replied, ut is an acorn
tree" thought it quite pretty name She
had evidently admired acorns and had picked
them up, and not knowing the right name of
the oak had called 1t by its fruit. l too adj
mired acorns-indeed, had one at that mo-
ment in my vest pocket-with its dark rough
reticulated saucer and smooth, light hued
conical cup Then / said, II make it rule
when meet group Of little girls like you to
catch the prettiest one and kiss her." l so
spalle because 1 thought 1t time to bring the
conference to a close, and l should have the
fun of seeing them scream, laugh and scam
per away. Man proposes, God disposes.
They didn't scare bit--stood stock still {;
one, indeed, the prettiest, the one to whom l
had first spoken, the one who had called the
oak an acorn tree-a plump, rosy checked,
blue eyed little puss she was-advanced and,
looking up archly in my face while holding
betwixt finger and thumb blooming glad
iole, said. ''Will you please accept this, sirF'
Could anything be more irresistible9 cherub
dropped from the skies inviting kiss! Can
anything that happens up yonder be sweeter
than this2
l had no sooner accepted the flower than a
second little one thrust forward her hand
holding large golden pippin and said, "Win
you please take this, sirs' and took it. Then
third one did not advance, bnt in the hollow
of her hand lay small, wee peach, and as
she spoke she gently waved her open hand to
and fro, while her body waved in unison from
right to left, and in half shy, deprecating
tone said, Il have nothing but this little
peach to offer; will you take it, siri' The
fields and gardens around were blooming
with flowers and orchards were bending under
their burden of many colored apples and
golden, luscious pears, but Jack Frost had
fingered too long in the spring time and
cruelty nipped the peach blossoms; so de-
clined the peach, as peaches were scarce,
thereby, fear, wounding her feelings
Ere l parted l gave TO each my card,
whereupon was told who was and what
my errand And as l did so l thought long
after had passed away and these little peo-
pie will be mothers, they will show my book
to their offspring with its many pictures of
their Ohio land, and stories of pioneer life
and later stories of the heroic men who
fought for the Union in that dreadful, bloody
war of the rebellion and point out the por-
trait of the author and describe this meeting
with him when they, too, were young things
on their way to the primary" meeting with
him, an old, white bearded man, by the
beautiful oak on the wayside of the village.
And then TO a question from the children,
they may answer: ''Oh, he has been dead
many years, long before you were born; it
was in - he died. "-Howes Historical
Recollections of Ohio.