Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1900-05-24

! THE YELLOW TOMATOES.

went to the public school in his adopt
ed country he had the felicity of sit
ting opposite little girl with freckles
and blue eyes. Her name was Bertha
Henderson, 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, ruftied
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.
Dominicus said to himself that in
Amsterdam he had never known any
girl so freckled and so dear.
Il wish she would look at me"
thought little Dominicus Van Brunt.
But he thought it in Dutch, although
when he spoke aloud he managed to
make himself understood in English.
1t must be confessed that little Amer
lean children are too egotistical to be
polite. Thinking as they do that they
are moulded on the right pattern,
they are inclined to regard all child
rem differing from them as curiosities.
They considered the round-faced
Dutch boy, with his ways and defer
entail manner to teacher, a strange
but little fish indeed. And no one in
all the school was more amused than
the dainty Bertha, who looked at him
covertly out of her gray-blue eyes.
However, she did not laugh at him. So
Dominicus, who did not know that she
was amused. and who perceived only
her aspect of gravity, thought her
kinder than the rest and was grateful.
II only she would have spoken to him,
or looked 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 everyone around him
was iabberinp,
He determined to do something 10
call the attention of his freckled
heart's-own to himself and one day
he hurried into the school room the
first minute the doors were opened
and laid three pear-shaped yellow to-
matoes on her desk. The scholars
came saw the pretty vegetables, and
had little trouble in deciding from
what source the tribute came. For
who else in a fashionable suburb
would have yellow tomatoes, except
the son of the Dutch gardener? The
school INDUCED in unrestrained gig
Cling hut BERTHA. instead of partici-
Mating. shot defiance from her gray
hlue ewes. and. turning with an ador-
able smile toward Dominicus, careful
" fitted one Of the yellow tomatoes
into her mouth. and devoured it in
the same shirt in which a loyal sub
iect drinks to his king. II was evident
that Dominicus had been right. Bertha
was different from the others. His
hann;ness stained the bows amiable
face scarlet. and while the other boys
ieered at him a number of them felt
distinct nanp of jealousy. They were
mite alive TO the extraordinary favor
which had been shown him.
From that day on Bertha, the
DAUGHTER of A prosperous lawyer and
little maid distinctly conscious of
her social opportunties. and Domini.
Gus the son of the man who raised
garden truck. were friends. There
came a day when Bertha, having
reached the proud age of 10, gave a
birthday party on her fathers lawn,
and insisted on having Dominicus