Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1894-02-10


We'll, when ! get old and feeble |
want to have a few of my senses left
and so while | had such good use for my
eyes | thought | would let my ears
rest"
Ruth laughed, but she would not
look at him again, for she had seer the
love in his. eyes when she did look, and
she decided that the view toward the
hills was better for her than the one Sc
near at hand.
did you know | had but one valcn,
tine this year?' with . peculiar EN-,
phnsis on the "one."
Didn't you have more last year?"
"Yes, year before last ! had twenty,
and last year eighteen, and now this
year ! am narrowed down to one"
why, didn't the girls"
Eyes, seventeen of them did. Six.
teen thought I had got beyond the age
of nan and now ought to live on
the solids Of life, but the seventeenth
still thought l might cling to a little
of the omanc l am glad there 10
one who still holds to the old custom.
1t isn't nice tofthfnk one Is dropped out
Of the old life"
'Uh! + am sure the girls didn't mean
-" she stopped, for though she might
explain the meaning of the biscuit
could she explain the one valentine?
Cousin Albert told ME l shouldn't
always have 80 many valentines, and
he was right But it is only the end
of a lesson that ! have been a long time
learning. Martha says a man a have
but one valentine. Now that l have
really come down to one, I find that
have never had but one, That l have
looked for yours first, and last night
when | thought what it would mean il
you stop sending each year | could
hardly wait to see you and ask il you
would come yourself as my valentine.
Ruth, Hove you dearly; ] think | al
ways have" D..
Ruth still kept her eyes on the far
away hills. But her heart was as full
of JOY as her eyes were full of tears.
Now she could say what she had been
trying to ever since they started. Il
have felt so badly that | couldn't
send when l found you didn't like val.
e%ntines--"
"But 1 do"
well, you said you didn't s'pose one
Of the girls could make biscuits, and we
declared we'd like to smother you in
them
That explains it. I couldn't think
what had done to bring down a food
of that kind. Well, l was overwhelmed
if not smothered."
But, can't make biscuits and"
'If you could see the stacks at home.
sixteen dozen of them, you wouldn't
wonder that l say with emphasis, I'm
glad you can't"
Ruth turned with laughing eyes,
Then needn't apologize"
NO, indeed, l like valentines bet
ter than biscuits, but ! guess it needed
just that to show me that | did"
Sixteen dozen! What are you going
to do with them all?"
Take you home with me to help eat
them, You haven't answered my ques-
ton yet"
SIN too young but a bright blush
vas on the face turned again to the
hills.
10 laughed, liking her shy ways, yet
sure that he had seen favor in her eyes.
He wished he could surprise her into
turning this way again. "Yes, l think
| am too young. Why, Pm only thirty,
but we can both be growing older as
fast as we can, and by next June we
shall be old enough"
He insisted that her aid was ncces-
sary in consuming those biscuits, SO
they stopped to tell Mrs. Hazen. What
she could have seen in his face l cannot
tell, but she went into the house with
the remark that it wouldn't be the last
meal Ruth would eat in the Jennings
house"
He lifted her from the carriage with
"a mute caress, and, leaving the black
pony to walk leisurely into the open
door OF the barn. he led Ruth into the
sunny sitting-room where his mother
sat in her cushioned easy-chair, and
said: Il have brought home a valen.
tine, mother. One am going to keep"
and while she drew the blushing face
down to hers with her thin, white
hands and kissed,it, 10 went out hur.
riedly to look after the pony and wills.
per in her ear; that he was so happy.
Meeting Martha IN the way he stopped
to tell her that Ruth would stay to
dinner. but his face must have been q
very ~telltale one, for he might just as
well have said that she, was to stay for.
ever, and Martha shook hands with a
hearty 'Tm so glad, iJos:"IMrs. N. A.
M. Roe, in Good housekeeping.