The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1895-10-03
MARTYRDOM

when the colonel grew reminiscent.
Away before the war" remarked
the colonel musingly, when | was just
sprouting my first whisker-a spindle
shanked, truant playing product of the
effete east-my father sent me out into
southwest Missouri to get braced up
don't know what was the matter with
me, but l was all run down, and my
father was convinced that a season on
the Missouri farm of my uncle would
prove beneficial alike to my mind and
body l might say before going farther
| that it did.
Il babe my mother a sorrowful good
! by, away back in New York city, and in
due course of time | landed on the farm
of my uncle 1t was a revelation. The
yerdure clad hills, the breezes smelling
spicy and sweet the cold water from
the we'll, wholesome food i'll large guam
titles, horses to ride and lovely pool
to 90 swimming i'll made a new boy Of
me in week, Barring the fact that |
was compelled to retire with the rest Of
the family at O'Clock at night and get
up at an hour in the morning when the
dew on the grass felt to my bare feet
/ like ice water, that farm WAS heaven. 1t
was two heavens when | got acquainted
with Melvina Drake.
"Melvina Drake was about the four
/ teenth child of a fa1mer living about
1.-TWO miles nearer town than my uncle
Her father, Solomon Drake, was the
i poorest man i'll the county. He was
/ poorer than watered buttermilk, but the
incest, mildest hammered old man you
ever saw His wife was a skinny, sal
low, God forsaken looking, overworked
woman, with no pleasure i'll store for
her but death. Both We're hardworking
and honest but they had some kind of
IA hoodoo on them. They were old resi-
denters in that part of the country, and
their ancestors had been there before
them, but as far back as the memory Of
man could extend the brakes had al
ways been poor-as my uncle said,
pore as shucks About all the brakes
seemed fitted for was increasing the
population and getting hold of horses
that couldn't draw anything but flies.
AS / was saying Melvina was about
the fourteenth of the Drake brood, and
she was a dream. guess she was about
Is years, big and sweet and healthy.
Her cheeks were as rosy and clear as a
Missouri apple, and her eyes were big
and blue And she was so doggone in
pocent that hope l may die if it didn t
use to embarrass me like thunder.
Consequences was, got mashed ON
Melvina, hard mashed, | don't be-
lieye stronger case of calf love ever
developed in this whole state of Mis-
souri,. If | saw one of my cousins or any
other boy talking to her, | would go to
some secluded spot and cry and butt my
soft NOODLE against a tree. At night |
used to lie awake and dream myself a
hero. | used to imagine Melvina tear
ing down the road on "a fiery steed with
certain death staring her i'll the face
and me coming up Unexpectedly, stop
ping the horse and rescuing her, sustain
ing i'll the operation a broken leg and
sundry other bruises. Then I'd imagine
Melvina nursing me back to life, and
finally marrying me My head was full
of such stuff.
cone day along in June, there came
out our way a wagon loaded with circus
bills, pastepots and bill stickers, and
they shattered the countryside with
signs announcing that the great Egypto-
Africano Circus and Menageries was to
show in town on the Fourth Of July.
When / left home. my father gave me
$40, and | had most of it left. made
up my mind that / would take Melvina
to the circus, and directly my dreams at
night took the form of monster lion
rushing at her with open mouth and me
engaging the lion just as be was about
to grab her, and choking him to death
with one hand
1.-The next time ! saw Melvina-I
used to see her every day; in fact, |
came pretty near being with her all the
time--I asked her if she d go to the cir
Gus l thought she'd faint. Her eyes
opened wide, and so did her mouth, and
establishment was engraved on every
line of her countenance. She was So
overcome with joy that she just sat
down and cried l sat down, too, and
that was the first time | ever kissed her.
young man. that kiss is a sacred
memory with me. | have experienced u
good many sensations III my time, but
the senatlou If kissing "a handsome,
buxom southwest Missouri girl right
square on the soft, sweet lips, while the
tears from her heavenly eyes are running
down and making pearly drops on your
budding mustache is something better
than all of them put together,
and when, like Melvina, she puts
her brown, bare arms around your neck
and kisses back - one of those long,
clinging kisses that Ella Wheeler Wilcox
writes about-wortls are supertluous.
But | have often wondered, since | have
become calloused and cynical, where
Melvina learned to kiss. She was rev
citation to me
Finally the glorious Fourth came
around, and got ready for the circus. /
might explain here that | had brought
suit of store clothes and pair of shoes
from the east with me, but had never
worn the clothes on the farm and sell
dom wore the shoes Everybody down in
that section went barefooted, boys and
men, and | did as the Romans did. This
Fourth of July morning put on billed
shirt, my store clothes, my shoes and
socks, and | brushed and cleaned myself
until ! was positively uncomfortable.
After breakfast followed nv the