The true northerner., 1900-06-13
TIE yellow Tomatoes
And How They Gave Shape To an
Engagement Ring.
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When Domlnicus Van Brunt first
went TO the public school in his adopt
ed country. he had the felicity Of sit
ting opposite a little girl with freckles
and blue eyes. Her name was Bertha
Manderson, which was a difficult name
for Dominicus to remember. But it
was not at all hard for him TO remem-
Der the dear little girl with freckles.
She wore tiny black tassels at the top
of her shoes and white aprons. ruflled
and tied upon the shoulders with large,
airy looking bows, and the ends of her
smooth braids were tied with ribbons
now the color Of the violet and now the
color Of the rose.
Domnlcus said TO himself that in
Amsterdam he had never known any
little girl so freckled and so dear.
81 wish she would look at me-"
thought little Dominicus Van Brunt
But he thought 1t in Dutch, although
when he spoke aloud he managed to
make himself understood in English.
1t must be confessed that little Ameri-
can children are too egotistical 10 be
polite. Thinking as they do that they
are nodded on the right pattern, they
are inclined to regard all children diff
fering from them as curiosities. They
considered the round faced Dutch boy,
with his shy ways and deferential
manner TO the teacher, a strange little
fish indeed And no one in all the
school was more amused than the dain-
ty Bertha, who looked at him covertly
out of her gray blue eyes. However,
she did not laugh at him. SO Domini-
Gus, who did not know that she was
amused and who perceived only her as
pect of gravity. thought her kinder
than the rest and was grateful If only
she would have spoken to him or look
ed at him as If she were his friend he
would have had nothing more TO ask.
He could even have been patient with
that terrible English language which
every one around him was jabbering.
He determined TO do something to
cali the attention of his freckled hearts s
own to himself. and one day he hurried
into the schoolroom the first minute
the doors were opened and laid three
pear shaped yellow tomatoes on her
desk. The scholars came, saw the
pretty vegetables, and had little trou-
BILE in deciding from what source the
tribute came. For who else in fash
ionable suburb would have yellow to-
matoes, except the son of the Dutch
gardener? The school INDUCED i'm un-
restrained gigglng. but Bertha. in
stead of participating, shot defiance
from her gray blue eyes, and, turning
with an adorable smile toward Domin-
icus, carefully fitted one of the yellow
tomatoes into her red mouth and de-
voured il in the same spirit in which
loyal subject drinks TO his king. 1t
was evident that Dominicus had been
right. Bertha was different from the
others. His happiness stained the boys $
amiable face scarlet, and while the 9th
er boys jeered at him, number of
them felt distinct pang of jealousy.
They were quite alive TO the eXtraor-
binary favor which had been shown
him.
From that day on Bertha, the daugh-
ter of prosperous lawyer and a little
maid distinctly conscious of her social
opportunities, and Dominicus, the son
of the man who raised garden truck,
were friends. There came day when
Bertha, having reached the proud age
of 10, gave n birthday party on her
fathers lawn, and insisted on having
Dominicus among her guests-a IA
nous day for Dominicus, in which he
saw his princess in all the glory Of her
best white frock, with her hair crimp-
ed down her back, and had the rapture
of eating cream tarts in her company!
But there was yet a prouder day in
which Dominicus was permitted TO re-
turn this social attention and was al
lowed to invite Bertha and three other
friends to the snowy kitchen of his
home back Of the garden, where the
mother of Dominicus sang beautiful
songs to them in a language they could
not understand and fed them with
crullers and grape juice. Bertha
thought she had never seen any room
so charming as this kitchen, with its
racks of blue plates, its shining pans
and its Illuminated notices upon the
wall.
Bertha was not more than II when
she was sent to private school, and
as the years went by she saw people of
quite a different sort from Dominicus
and his father and mother and ought,
probably, TO have forgotten all about
them. But il Is an undeniable fact,
though IT may have shown some evi-
dences Of vulgarity In her nature, that
oil the years that she was occupied
with other matters, such as boarding
school and summer resorts and ''com-
ing out and the gayeties Of winter
in the city, she remembered that curl
Gus kitchen and the people who lived
In It and wondered where they had