Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-02-11

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more did the sweet image of Clodine
haunt him. He resolved to school him
self to swiftness of speech and bold
ness of statement to the end of declar-
ing his love.
Thereafter he occasionally made out
to see her home, but as often saw her
borne off on the arm of rival And
even when he found himself the IA
vored one he still struggled helplessly
and foolishly in the meshes of his fatal
repetitions. The tolls which he neglected
to deduct from grists during this period
Of his abstraction " ere not small.
As to Clodine, she seemed to be al
ways in the best of spirits Certainly
the school had never been blessed with
such a teacher before, She quietly intro
duced several innovations which served
to tighten the drudgery of that rule of
three. Among these was the teaching
of drawing and singing, In both she
found apt pupils, but in drawing the
Widow Books eldest son developed re-
markable talent aud was soon able to
caricature his teacher and mates with
ridiculous clevernesS
Clodine took much interest in his
drawing and often remained after
hours at her desk to give him special
instruction As the winter wore on
into February the Ka Bob store sud-
denly famed out in gorgeous collec.
ton of valentines, ranging in style
from the ludicrous penny caricatures to
dainty bits of sentiment framed in
acknowledgements and decorated
paper. The cheap prints caught the
artistic eye of the embryo cartoonist
and he studied them eagerly, but not
more carefully than he did the miller's
countenance. The valentine idea had
evidently seized upon his fancy with
great vividness. There was but one
thing lacking to complete his prepara-
ton for a large celebration of the day.
By strange freak of fortune that one
lack was supplied at the eleventh hour.
| 1t was after school and he had come to
| his teachers desk for his customary
special hints upon drawing. He hap
pened to espy an envelope addressed in
| her hand to ''Mr. Barnabas Hutchins-' -
Some little time after the widows
eldest had departed from the school
room his teacher attempted to find the
envelope which she thought she had
addressed for the purpose of inclosing
q leap-year invitation to Mr.. Hutchins
to accompany her in sleighing party.
| Not finding it, she addressed another
and dropped it into the post office
| Valentine morning, as Barnabas
Hutchins sauntered up to the post
Office, after the stage had come in. he
was deep in throes of despair 1t had
| now been several months since Clodine' s
return, and he had not only "seen her
home" from church on sundry occa-
| sions, but had called upon her no less
than thrice with the distinct determine
ton to declare his love in the most di-
rect and sententious words of which the
English language was capable. But on
every one of these blissful interviews
language had evaded him like the ira
ditional flea, and when his eyes looked
upon Clodine and his mind contem-
plated the proposal, his tongue, SO long
estranged from all form of definite
statement, SHE'D at the speech which
he had committed to memory, and he had
found himself foundering in the bitches
of: "Ye see-ah-ye know-ah-I'll tell
ye-"
He called for his mail. What? Could
he believe his eyes? Two letters by the
same mail from Clodine Stafford He
carefully ripped open one of the letters
with his iackknife, and drew forth a
large sheet of brown paper on which
was an elaborate and faithful cartoon
Of his own head, perched on a small
body, while out of his mouth proceeded,
like rings of smoke, innumerable scrolls,
decorated with various familiar quota
lions, to wit:
Squire Snow, one of the school di-
| 70 ha mill fall
day, and as Barn Hutch came out and
assisted in unloading the grist. the
squire said:
Barn, we've hired Clo' Stafford to
come back t teach this winter. She
Amt only the smartest an best egicated
girl in Ia Bob, but she's like
wise the purtiest- You'll miss it If
you don't git your tongue Embered up
purity quick. and tell her something be-
sides: 'Waal now, I'll tell yer"
Sabbath evening Clodine took her old
time seat in the choir. The thrill which
shot through the bachelor miller as his
keen eyes noted the little changes ac-
ouired during her scholastic absence
rendered him absolutely oblivious to
the sermon
At the close of the sermon Clodine
stood up and sang as he had never heard
bird or woman sing before-sang as he
fancied the angels must have sung the
glad tidings of peace over the Bethle-
hem hillsi The sweet. simple strains
of the sacred solo caught up his soul in
an ecstacy of emotion which made the
pulpit lights seem but an indistinci
blur and the whole service waking
dream
Clodinc paused to shake hands with
the preacher. while the face of the
Widow Book was lit with a salt-risins
smile of scorn-
Barnabas fingered along with the old
folks around the great box stove in thu
| rear as Clodine came down the aisle
| stopping here and there to shake hand,
| with cid friends
As he was graphing after words ID
which to '-as,1 her home.' a voice at hi
| elbow startled him.
Why. how do you do, Mr. Hutch
ins?- she said Il am glad to see you
again. and looking so well, too. hop,
| you enjoyed the services"