St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-07-26

| III Ills uldllici lHdG Iie gil JUST
checked a smile.
! 1--WE never forgotten it," she said,
a little stiffiy.
Il don't suppose they let you for
get it, said the man, with sudden
smile. $50 many things, as well as
persons, must remind you of it. No
doubt the speed of this car at the
present moment forcibly recalls the
wild rush and scurry of the dear old
Quaker town."
There are some very nice things
about Philadelphia" said the girl.
And some very nice people," said
the man with comical little bow.
"And that dignifed elaboration that
marks the town has it's advantages.
Why, they even grow old slowly in
Philadelphia"
| The girl laughed softly.
"People who do not know US very
well, get wrong impressions" she
said.
''We are very anxious to know you
| BETTER" said the man heartily, "and
| hope that you want to know us bet
| ter. OF course, it's all very different
| here. We are so rude and SO lively.
Why, our fire engine horses actually
run when they go to fires. Yes, and
we have our window shades up in the
evening, and we have no ancient bars
of wood for our heavy inside blinds,
and our servant maids don't spend
half the morning scrubbing our front
steps,"
The girl really laughed.
That's dreadfully ibelous," she
said.
ITS a simple statement of facts
he answered. "There's nothing the
least bit malicious about it. We are
are neither envious nor untruthful.
We may do things a little shocking,
but then we have no long line of cir
cumspect ancestors to look down re-
proachfully at us from their dingy
gilt frames. In Philadelphia you are
looking backward, you know. Here
we are hustling forward"
"You seem to have made study of
our venerable town." said the girl,
''but I see very plainly that it is an
outside view, and consequently mar
row and biased"
"Of course that is the only view
permitted to western barbarians,"
laughed the man. 'How could we ex
pect to be admitted to the sacred
inner circles?"
"How, indeed?'
"True," said the man, 1--WE can
watch the grass growing in the
streets, and stare at the quick de-
livery boys sleeping on the fire
hydrants, but of that inner Philadel-
phia life we can know nothing. How
placid it must be-"
ut is beautifully unruf1ed,' said
the girl.
"Of course it is" said the man.
II think your expression just de-
scribes it. Beautifully unruffled.
I'll make note Of it. Beauty with
out ruffles is beauty unadorned, of
course. Still, you know, beauty I'M
adorned in Philadelphia is quite diff
ferent from beauty unadorned in
Boston,
II think you are talking nonsense"
said the girl.
"From the Philadelphia point of
view, of course" said this man. "The
Philadelphia idea of humor is some
thing that can be laughed at later
on. That's good, isn't it? I'll make
a note of it, too"
He laughed lightly. The girl
echoed his laugh with little flash
of white teeth and the sudden ap-
pearance of provoking dimple in
one cheek. The man, an interested
spectator of this phenomenon, at
once determined he would make her
laugh again.
Am l to infer" she asked, "that
you really have visited Philadel-
phia?''
Several times" the man replied,
"but never when in a hurry"
She did laugh again and the dim
pie came and went.
"And did you meet any really rep
resentative Philadelphians?"
II have supposed I did. But it
may have been piece of empty pre-
sumption on my part. I haven't
lineage, you know, that would emit
tie me to recognition as an equal.
And they are SO eYacting about it.
1t is in the atmosphere, sort of
moldy smell of ancient family vaults.
Oh, I know you can't help it. You
encounter it at every turn. haven't
the slightest doubt that the revered
ancestor of your next-door neigh5or
signed the declaration of independ-
ence."
81 think not" said the girl with
mock gravity. II know that she is
neither child of the constitutional
convention nor a spinster of the orig
inal thirteen. But just around the
corner from our home lives worthy
old gentleman, whose grandfather
was in the boat with Washington
when he crossed the Delaware"
"How fne!" gasped the man. II
suppose his fortunate descendant is
the grand chief splasher of the Sons
Of the Patriot Scullers. What an
idea for a new historical novel! Lis
ten: Then the noble Washington,
folding his heavy military cloak still
closer about his towering form, let
his resolute eye scan the shaaowy
bank of the farther shore that dimly
doomed beyond the field of interven-
ing ice. His gaze presently dropped
to our hero. What have you there?"