The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-06-12
THE YOUNG MANS FANCY.

he came out on the lawn ono fateful
morning with a sugar stick and book
of pictures when Miss Margaret and her
doll were watching the gardener cut the
grass. He also watched the gardener.
until Miss Margaret, having decided pre-
| sumably that he was nice" condescend-
| ed to relieve his curiosity.
| He Is cutting the grass" she explained.
''and when he has It all cut he-he puts
water on ito make 1t grow again-so-
SO he can cut 1t again"
| Master Burke looked at the gardener
with new wonder. Tim he locked at
Miss Margaret. She returned his sa.s
demurely. Within five minutes they were
sitting on the veranda steps. with their
heads together over the book of pictures.
each nibbling a share of the sugar stick.
And Miss Margaret's share was the
! larger. as was proper.
Between bites he explained the pictures.
referring occasionally to the printed COM
mentary to make sure OF the basic fact
/ Fate had denied him a brother, and his
! parents had denied him playmate among
| his neiRhbors; but he had discovered the
consolation of solitude his imagination;
and 1t was his astonishing development
OF this faculty that won the admiration OF
, Miss Margaret, as It had won the contempt
Of his cousins.
the stories in the piotursbook than the
| author of them had. When there was
| castle in the background of an illustration
! he could tell exactly In what room OF 1t
| the princess immured. He could
I picture the ogre who was her jailer. to
| the very wart on the knob end OF MS
/ nose, and no described every article OF the
gold and silver furnishings of the palace
with such reausuc detail that he made
MAJ vat ha nd
of her own apartment changed to silver
fligree and cloth Of gold She was cap
| tivated She did not hide that and her
expressed enthusiasm won him utterly
Before the book was finished they had
attained to such friendship that she al
lowed him to wipe his sticky fingers on
her handkerchief You haven't remem-
bered yours" she said
"oh," he explained. boys don't ever
have them"
She thought the matter over. She said;
"You can always borrow mine"
That was delicateiy put that his mas
culIne obtuseness had quito overlooked
her meaning. 1t was Miss Margarets
surrender.
All this Burke, lounging in his chair
slowly recollected. building up some OF 1t
with difficulty, catching others OF the pic
! lures quickly and clearly.
| meeting they had been much together.
| Miss Margaret deserted the rough young
sters with whom she had romped hereto
| fore fo< the more congenial company OF
| her new friend She learned to storm
| block forts with battalions of colored
marbles that were at moment cav
| airy. at the next cannon balls: to make
| siege guns of the pithy elderberry BUSH
| and to lay out national cemetery for
g.
| stones. When she was promoted to the
| game of imprisoned princess she had al
ready become moro than passive pupil.
| and she dictated the behavior of the regal
prisoner to more coquetry than the manip-
| ulator of the prince could understand
| They came near to a quarrel at the fourth
| repetition of the make believe when che
| insisted that the prince should die of his
| wounds after he had killed ten dragons
and the ogre. leaving the princess to weep
| out the days of her youth beside his tomb.
Master Burke could see no fun in that
| and her contempt was calling. They COM
promised by agreeing to give the quest an
unhappy ending every third time they
played 1t, and he even consented to the
subs titution of china doll for the 'Noah's
wife" shaped like a clothespin. which he
had used hitherto the imprisoned
beauty.
Their friendship ripened with the con-
stant intimacy of these games till he dis
tngmshed himself by climbing up the
| posts of side veranda to call good
morning" through the window to his lady
before she had arisen; and Miss Margaret.
| at dinner, refused to eat stewed corn, a
! dish of which she was ravenously fond,
because he had told her that it once made
| him Ill. When the miserable day came
for his departure she gave him the choic-
- - l. 4. ~ e.,
| monogram in pale blue silk and picture
| of herself in her famous winter furs. He
promised to send her photograph from
| his home. But he found that there was
not a picture of himself to be had In the
| house. In the family groups he was al
! ways young and inconspicuous. There was
| a picture of a picnicking party in which
| he stood notably In the front rank among
| some fifteen little girls. He chose that
| for Miss Margaret. and he was properly
| punished for his vanity. He heard after
ward. from a letter written by his aunt
| to his mother, that Mrs Margaret was
| desperately jealous of the score of rivals
| In the photograph. He did not ever see
| her afterward.
Burke smoked over these old memories
srlilingly. 1t was long time since he
| had thought of them. He had been so bus
| lily engaged in living from day to day
that he had lacked the opportunity to
criticize his own performance with the
retrospective eye. Now, his interest in
| his work had sloughed from him. He had
been eager in his duties, but being re-
| leased from them he found that his heart
had not been in them. He felt no en-
| thusiasm for them, and no desire to
turn to them. He had been playing a
| game again: and he found his soldiers
| leaden. and his battles mimic ones and
| childish. Work, he decided. was such
| folly. The whole world was amusing
| itself with a make-believe which all had
| agreed to play earnestly. But when the
night of death came to take them from
| their blocks and marbles what would they