Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-05-04

-~$ir ssS9I//// II q hot, perspiring
>-<>ElSz%4SiH;// A boyish face with
.z#>5<lEdF4( tears of weary
-:NagN III joy trembling on
>fT - the lashes of the
big brown eyes and childish voice
exclaiming:
81 brought you such beautiful
bouquet because 1 love you, dear. L
walked miles to get it. Do you like
it, and will you keep it forever'n
ever?"
"Like it?" Words cannot express
how much I liked it-then.
That wes years ago. One would
think had forgotten-sometimes. It
is better to forget--and yet, at times,
these hot hearts of ours play us such
strange, freakish tricks, one wonders
how they can belong to quiet, self-pos-
sessed worldly people. For l am
worldly-there is no use Of denying
it; in fact, I rather glory in it.
Some old maids take to fancy work
with cat and parrot attachment;
some devote themselves to church and
sewing societies, but 1 settled down
to work-and work would surely put q
quietus on sentimental nonsense.
II there be not love and happiness
in our lives-snd these things are
blessings that come to so few-why
not be something to and of the whole
world. This bright, beautiful, fasci,
l mating world that we are so loath tc
| leave, and yet would never have en-.
: tered had our wishes been consulted.
81 bring such a beautiful bouquet be-
: cause 1 love you, DEAR" sounds as
II clearly in my ears tonight, a3 it did
- more years ago than / care to re.
member.
Tom was eight and I was six and {
half, and, oh, how we loved each Other
in the days when we used to go tc
housekeeping regularly, every morn
= ing after breakfast, in the little ole
s summer house at the foot of the hill.
y Tom sat on a sofa inverted soar
boX) and made believe smoke n cigar
and read his paper IA stray leaf from
a old Mother Goose) and L tucked up
e my curls with big hairpin-we had
q saved our pennies to buy-and baked
enormous sand pies for our lunch.
Afterwards he always went down
e town to his Office and worked very
: hard, and l dressed up magnificently
+ in the remnants of an old red table
cloth and lolled on the sofa lat least
q part of me lolled; the rest hung over
= on the floor and 1 nearly broke my
e poor little back over the edge of that
a horrid box; But Tom said it was
: "grown up to loll" so the lolling had
to be done) until he came home from
town with my bouquet. He never for
got it, and I always loyalty vowed to
= keep it ''forever'n over" Sometimes
: it was dandelions, that I laboriously
a picked to pieces leaf by leaf to see ii
, he did truly love ne, and, when the
woeful words came to the final petal,
che loves me not" Tom would stamp
5 his foot and scold-"Poh! Katie,
. flowers don't know, love you more'n
| million bushelsl Now kiss me this
, minute! Cos mans and boys Just
! likes to be loved when they's all tired
l out working, like L am." Then that
e bouquet was thrown away, but the
e clover or wild flowers or even thistles
| = AZ J"AJ WIZ tIAO ICSb VI NuO.
How this long dried bouquet has es.
capped the ravages OF Time-only Fate
!. knows; but it occupies q secret drawer
$ in my desk and sometimes L take il
a out and live over again those old, de.
, lightful, thrilling days so full of love
and happiness when Tom was grown
e man at eight and such splendid lover!
e My cheeks were the reddest, my eyes
the brightest and my kisses the sweet.
y. est of any girls in town, for-Tom
said So.
r He also said that I made the best
= sand cakes and he ate them, like &
/. good husband ought, until one day
- when lie nearly choked to death on +
pebble and thot frightened us so he
Il never again could be persuaded tc
touch any OF my baking; and he made
me dress in mourning-a piece of blecl;
calico he found in the garret-just tc
= see how badly would have felt if he
). had really died.
8 1t was dreadful I had to cry and
= sob, Tom said widows always did
a sob loud, dreadfully loud-until 1 al.
y most made myself sick about it; for he
e made me keep that up for a week and
s cut off few inches of the black calico
t every day. Tom said just couldn't
: get out of mourning too quick and il
q wasn't nice of me to want to. But af
e ter that I stole the bread and jam fo,
= our luncheons. Tom made me. He
e said one funeral was all woman
- ought to expect of man and he
: wouldn't choke himself to death agair
for any womani