The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1898-12-01
PHYLLIS AND I,
Phyllis suggested 1t,

Of course l acquiesced. If I had not
well, that's another story.
Phyllis has such an astonishing way
Of suggesting things, and, too, such a
determined way of carrying GU her
suggestions, little matter what stand
n the way, hat she is ever, it seems,
at work in her mind, planning.
Her last idea, that is the last in
which I 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 l. We'll do it."
And we did. That is to say, we
have taken tie first. The others will
come later.
To begin at the beginning, 1t were
we'll to say that Phyllis is death on
lunch baskets. eff 1 were going from
here to California" she has often re-
marked, land 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 two-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
above, was sat upon directly it had
been expressed.
I'VE shall do nothing of the Sort"
said Phyllis. 1--WE shall take only the
wheels and the camera, and really I'd
rather w didn't carry that, only 1 sup
pose you must. But a lunch! Never!
shall stop at some road house or
Ter and eat picked tongue and olives
like tourists in the garden of Yer
sailles. And if l am not hungry we
shall not eat at ALL"
And of course that settled it. 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?" l asked
meekly.
y why, tomorrow, Of course" she an
swered. And early in the afternoon,
directly we have eaten lunch-and
bring a book, a nice book, 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 then there came trouble. 1t 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 / exclaimed, "By Jove, l have it!'
and my fingers clutched a little fiat
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 hat 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 thai
! rolled up to Phyllis front porch
She was waiting even then. Our start
was very inauspicious-though she did
occupy twenty mortal minutes arrang-
ing her skirt to her satisfaction. We
had reached Woodward avenue, Phyllis
a tri1e 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 rid,
had not occurred to either of us.
Then l remembered that there was
cycle path out Jefferson avenue way
easier riding, you know-so I said, a!
though l had considered that to hav,
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, IAN
you know it"
Then after another quarter of a.
hour spent in arranging useless skirt
we got under way again. The roll dow
Woodward venue was %uneventful
very. There was nothing but stores
and bustling crowds and street ca
tracks and creaking trolleys ant
bumpety bumps over rails with a dodg'
there to keep from running down I'm