The Monticellonian., 1902-02-14

brought the good s!eighing of the preceding weeks to an untimelY end, and the gray clouds seemed to be weeping over the ealam- ity, thereby augmeuting it's dolorous- ness. as undue liquid lamentation has way of doing. The old green and yellow stage "bodY. had been trans ferred from the runners on which it had glided so gaYIy over the smooth white road to the summer running eear' with broad-tired ehoeolate-eol- ored wheels that labored along with subdued rattle and asthmatic crcaks, throwing such profuse splotches and strcaks of mud over the dingy panels and cracked win doWs that even the steady downPour was unequal to washing them.
 By the way. the unusual bulginess of Ac old mail bag may have had some
 ing to do with certain pleasant
 nklc in the old stage drivers gray
 es, and the frequent whistIed
 atches of Kathleen MayourneeH'
 q ',Black-Eycd susan with which
 shortened the tedious way and
 ped himself to ignore the small Tt persistent rivulet that was trick Titng down his back through the aper- ture in the rear of his tarpaulin' $ brim.
 cannot say that the state of the mail bxg was not responsible also for the pz;aetically hilarious flourish with VIC Romulus and Remus (fa- miliarly known as Rom and "Reem''), the wirt veterans who had drawn the old stage for II years, took the sharp ascent from the main road and drew up before the unpainted building that was village store and post office combined.
 Caleb Sltipp, selee'man, storekeeper and postmaster, came out in the lat ter capacity with friendly salute.
 Keep yer settin', Elb. I'll take out -the mail Git home an intew dry dads quick az ye ken. Sairy'll be on pins an needles till ye dew! sho, now (Iifting the mail bag); "heayy. ain't ?"
 "Thank'ee, Gale. Heavy? Of course Thirteenth O Febewary, ye know. Young folks will be young folks-human natur' about the same as twas 40 year ago"
 'Jes' so. Dorry's been talkin' yal'ntines all day
 Guess she won't be dsapp'intid. whoever else is" responded the old stage driver, with gallant touch of his tarpaulin in the direction of Dor " Skipp. whose rosy face just then appeared in the doorway. ''G1ang, Roml Git, Reem!" and with pro digous splash and chatter the stage disappeared around Wilkins Bend"
 A goodly number of the village young folk, we'll protected with wa terproofs, rubber coats and rubber boots, were already waiting for their mail around the rusty box stove
 Owing to the one delivery a day, M&igs valentines always arrive on the afternoon of the 18th; for it would of course, be too much to expect that the Meigs boys and girls could wait until the last part of the day itself.
 At last, amid much laughter and good-natured teasing, the merry group dispersed and no reenforce- ments appeared, nor would they until later in the evening; for the Meigs supper hour had come, and of course the postmaster and his family wished to spend it undisturbed, as well as other people. Mrs. Skipp was distrib- uting she remnant of mail; and Dick and Dorry, "the Skipp twins" occu- pied the long wooden settee and talked alternately about skating and alentines-valentine in general and valentines in particular.
 Wall, now!" suddenly calculated Mr. Slsipp from behind the tiers of post office boxes. ''Ef here ain't a letter fer old Miss Jerushy Dunlop!