The Coconino sun., 1901-07-20
"THAT COMMITTEE 4 Fourth Of July
 St0y By MANDA [. CR0CKER

- the Wnlte path dropped ana lOOkeu ragged in the intense heat Ordinarily, Ben ze Robins would have pitied the "pore things" but now he sat gloating over them with savage delight, glad to see something "knock under"
 Suddenly the heel of his right shoe crossed the ample instep of his left, bring ing the twin patches on the knees of his summer jeans into the perspective, and he exclai.ned: q yum! I will see if that committee gets ahead of me; it will be after the Fourth of July, if it does!"
 The toil-worn hands went down into the jeans pockets to hobnob with four pennies, harness buckles and bits of string, which he always carried for emergencies in his vocation, and he fell to work on plan to defeat said committee.
 Two weeks previous he had been appoint ed as "one of three" to prepare Fourth of July programme for ambitious Smith vile, and the little "burg" was already be- ginning to buzz with patriotic expectancy. Much depended upon the successful plan ming, for Smithville always celebrated; in the grove if the weather was fair, other wise in the timehonored city hall.
 The other members of this very impor- tant trio were close-fsted citizens of the village, while Benzie dwelt on the "outer aige," as he put it.
 At the meeting called to make arrange ments, these two had everything their own way, completely ignoring the third mem- Der. Benzie made no demur until it came to choosing the speaker of the day. Then he stood out stoutly for change; he want. ed "one from abroad" he said, but they ridiculed the idea, and chorused their ob- jections.
 "We simply can't afford it," they re- peated; "times are hard, money is tight, and besides Maj. Bowling could crate on this coming occasion, just as well as he had for the last ten years" And he wouldn't charge a cent" All he ever ex- pected Twas the honors and the free lem onade," thDs last with cunning chuckle.
 Farmer Robins was so disgusted that he lowered up head and shoulders above the majority saying hotly that "when his ideas of Inde ,endence day dwarfed down to such a minimum that they could be put to soak in glass of pink lemonade, he would be quite ready to vote down the Fourth al- together" Then he had bowed himself out with the remark "that they might con slider themselves committee of two." And now he meant to defeat that Bowling ora tion or die;" hence the planning.
 Presently he sprang to his feet shout. ing: q have it." so loud that his wife came out in alarm. "Why, Benzie! What is the matter" she asked, breathlessly, while he stood twirling his mustache and looking out and down over Smithville in good-na- tured contempt.
 Nothing the matter, my dear," he an- swered, blandy, "only I've a plan which that committee would never dream emanat- ol under the palm-leaf of an old hayseed like me-" and he laughed gleefully.
 Mrs. Robins smiled her approval, and went back to her sewing. She could trust Benzie if it was planning he was doing, and sle hoped the committee would trust him, too, for she never knew him to stop short of success. But when ten minutes later she saw her husband making bee-line for the Bowling cottage, she unused discon- certedly: "Oh, should hope if the mat ter of the address was left to Benzie, he would make a new deal. Everybody in Smithville knows the majors oration by heart this minute. Dear! he didn't have much of plan, after all, if that was it."
 Nevertheless, as the hot afternoon waned, and Mrs. Robins sewed and sighed over her disappointment, the "third member" and the major discussed the hayseed plan very satisfactorily.
 Toward tea-time Benzie came up between rows of ragged hollyhocks, which seemed to freshen as he passed, whistling a rol- licking tune, and rushed into the library with his hat on the back of his head. His wife followed, wonderingly. Surely it was no cause for elation that Mai. Dow ling had consented for the dozenth time togo over his experience" "da-ow-n sa-ou-th," to the yawning Smithvillians.
 70, Benzie," she said, deprecatingly, "you have been over to the majors about the Fourth of July speech"
 "l have," he admitted, smiling broadly at the woeful puckers on his wife's matron-