The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-09-24
PHYLLIS AND I.
Phyllis suggested 1t.

Phyllis suggested 1t.
OF course l acquiesced. If l had not
we'll, that's another story.
Phyllis has such an astonishing way
OF suggesting things, and, too, such a
determined way of carrying out her
suggestions, little matter what stand
In the way, that she is ever, 1t seems,
at work in her mind, planning.
Her last idea, that is the last in
which figure to any length, was this
ride.
"I1l tell you what let's do" she
said.
"What?" said.
Lets take all the nice country runs
out of town and see the fields and
farms and COWS and sheep and things"
Good" said I. We'll do it."
have taken tie first. The others will
como later.
To begin at the beginning, it were
we'll to say that Phyllis is death on
lunch baskets. IF l were going from
here to California" she has often re-
marked, "ana had not a dime in my
pocket for food, l would starve before l
would carry a lunch in a shoe box"
So my idea of taking a lunch and
eating tive wo-on some nice soft
bit Of grass, possibly beneath the
dancing leaves of a great oak, with the
beauties of nature all about us, and
the birds singing in the branches
1hOvl Woc cot ,,n0n dirnof1r, - Lo1
been expressed.
I'VE shall do nothing of the Sort
said Phyllis. I'VE shall take only the
wheels and the camera, and really I'd
rather we didn't carry that, only I sup
pose you must. But a lunch! Never!
We shall stop at some road house or
other and eat picked tongue and olives
like tourists in the garden Of Ver-
sailles. And If I am not hungry we
shall no eat at ALL"
And Of course that settled 1t. Argu-
ing with Phyllis over anything were a
waste of breath and time, but the more
particularly in the matter of carrying
a lunch. So l had only the hope that
Phyllis might be hungry before the
ride had ended.
And when shall we go?" I asked
meekly.
why, tomorrow, of course" she an
swered. And early in the afternoon,
directly we have eaten lunch-and
bring a book, a nice book, one suited
to such an excursion"
I promised, and that evening I put
in three good hours fixing the camera,
and cleaning the wheel and filling its
tires with nice fresh evening air.
And her there came trouble. It lay
In the selection of a book. Short sto-
ries would not do, that I knew, for
Phyllis doesn't care for short stories
Essays then-no, far too deep. And
then l exclaimed, "By Jove, I have it!'
and my fingers clutched a little flat
book in red and bearing its title in
gold on either cover-"Ecca Puella"-
Behold! The Girl!
Just the one" said flor Phyllis
So that was the book that went with
us, a book of nature, and beauty and
womanly loneliness and cupids and all
else that is pleasant in this sordit
world.
1t was very shortly after lunch that
I rolled up to Phyllis front porch.
She was waiting even then. Our start
was very inauspicious-though she die
occupy twenty mortal minutes arrang
ing her skirt to her satisfaction. We
had reached Woodward avenue, Phyllis
a trifle in advance, when suddenly she
ran up to the curb and balancing hel
wheel at a standstill, exclaimed, Have
you any idea where we are going?"
l nearly fell from my mount. A des-
tination or route for our first ride
had not occurred to either of us.
Then 1 remembered that there was q
cycle path out Jefferson avenue way
easier riding, you know-so I said, az
though l had considered that to have
been our ride all the time, why, GU,
the Crosse Pointe road, of course
Didn't we agree upon that last night?'
mo, we didn't" said Phyllis, "and
you know it"
Then after another quarter of al
hour spent in arranging useless Skirts
we got under way again. The roll down
Woodward avenue was uneventful
very. There was nothing but stores
and bustling crowds and street cal
tracks and creaking trolleys an6
bumpety bumps over rails with a dodge
there to keep from running down I'm