Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-04-25
Making Nanette Happy.
BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.


THE first time he saw her he was ten
/ years old and she two. Her par
ents had taken possession of the house
next door to his own home only the
previous week. 1t was a warm MAY
afternoon and he was coming home
from chool with his books strapped
over his shoulder when the shrill
scream of a child fell on his ear, 8
scream full of angry pain and rebel
ious grief. He turned in the direc-
ton of the sound, and saw a vision of
childish loveliness-a tangle of golden
hair, two great eyes swimming in
tears Xix pansies plucked from their
stems and tossed into a bowl of water,
a pursed up spot of crimson where the
mouth should be, and two doubled
fists, the size of pink rosebuds, beat
ing the air, while the small feet
stamped in violent age. With the
creams of the child had mingled the
wall of a cat and the voice of a
woman in cap and apron, who APP
peared to be the child's nurse.
NO. nc, Nanette must not pull the
poor kitty's tail, it is very naughty"
said the woman sit hurts the pussy
atAIu LIldNOS hC StSh. ouSG JDtH liz
cat in question sprang on the garden
fence ready to make it's escape into
the street, and this augmented the
grief of the small maiden to the ut
most limit. She threw her pretty
body or the ground and beat the
earth with her tiny heels, shrieking
at the top of her voice: 81 wants tity-
TAFT wants tity-tat." The sight of
the beautiful babes grief was too
much for Master Albert Orton's ten
der heart. He sprang forward and
seized the unsuspecting cat in his
arms, leaped the garden fence like a
young deer, and kneeling by Nanette
he said soothingly: "Here, baby, here
is the kitten for you. Don't cry, don't
cry any more. Albert will hold the
kitty while you play with it,"
After that Albert and Nanette were
the greatest friends imaginable. He
fastened home from school to play
with her, and there was no sacrifice
on his part too great to make for the
qualification of the small damsel's
least whim. She might pound a rock
with his slate, toss his marbles into
the well to heal them 'chuck" against
the water, mix mud pies in his Sun
day hat, break his hoop and lose his
bat, and there was never a word of
complaint from his lips. To make
Nanette happy was his chief desire.
She was a most destructive child, |
and seemed never content until h
had ruined every toy h touched,
whether her own or a~nother's. As a
consequence she was most unpopular
with the children of her own age;
they rebelled at having their play
things destroyed, and as years passed
by and Nanette grew more imperious
and destructive, she chung more and
more to Albert as a companion and
PLAYMATE, because he alone allowed
her to have and do whatever she de-
sired.
Nanette was eight and Albert 16
he was sent away to college.
She wept so violently at the separa-
ton that Albert would have rehn-
ouished the project of acquiring an
had he been his own mas
ter.
Nine years elapsed before they met
AGAIN. Nanette's father died and her
took her abroad to De edu-
Gated in a convent, and then there was
a wear of travel about the continent.
this time Nanette was thrown
with a party of American people, and
engaged to Sylvester Gamer
a young man of fine family and
Perhaps the evident desire
ON Mrs. Sylvester's part that her son
sbould devote himself to a certain
Miss Doris in the party was one great
in fastening Nanette's betroth-
- Miss Doris was a very sweet girl,
and earnest, and, although
dependent upon rich relatives, Mrs.
mother eyes read the wom-
heart in her breast n knew that
possessed all the requisites for a
good wife.
But Nanette's witching face n APP
eyes carried the day. and II