The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-11-12

y
quarts Oh with Joe Burridge as little
missie"-pointing to Noel-"'ill play
for me and knock his ugly 'ead off. I
do ear as 'ow Mistress Jarvis sewing
club be a-goin' to try to knock US out,
and there's twelve on US wants little
miss:e to do her best for Us. 1t do
warm our Old carts. it do. to have a
bit of real sport like this newfangled
game. Most as good as days rattin'
it be, surelie."
When Miranda asked her little niece
Noel to stay with US, she said that
Noels blue eyes, golden hair, mournful
face, with its Il do want to be loved
before heaven claims me Cor its own
kind Of expression, made her uneasy.
It did NE also. knew the child, and
was also aware that heaven could
get along very we'll without her-foc a
time. 1T all events. She was little
demon at lawn tennis and could pick
up any New game in ten minutes. Be-
sides, as she told me, she had been
working hard at pinepong in order to
click Brother Tom" l had little
practice with her before the tourna-
ment came off, and She But antici-
pate.
Miss Jarvis. although she loved Mi
randa dearly, did not like the success
Of the blanket club. After all, we were
only newcomers, and we ought, like
Agag, to have walked delicately" for
q few years before bursting into such
metecric fame. 1t occurred to Miss
Jarvis when she saw the special rule
that it would be q sporting kind Of
thing for her sewing club members to
enter en- masse. Though most Of them
were the wives of the blanket club
men, she never seemed to realize that
q house divided against itself cannot
stand. So she bought dozen tickets
for the sewing club and, when Miranda
demonstrated with her on this prolific
expenditure, as good as limited that it
was no business Of Miranda's. New
comers in the place could not be ex-
pected to understand ''the dear people"
as we'll as she did. Of course when she
got nasty" like that Miranda nightly
prayed that the blanket club players
would smite the feminine Amalekites
Of the sewing club hip and thigh.
Noel was so popular in the village
that the landlord Of the Spotted Dog,
as she informed me after the tourna-
ment was over, put his last shirt on
her" a phrase which, understand, in
sporting parlance means that he risked
all his spare cash on the event. l
wasted good deal Of time teaching
Noel how to serve into the double
edges Of the Dig mahogany table which
we borrowed from the vicar. It was
Just the right size (nine feet by fve),
but the double edges gave q sort of
piQuancy to the play which I thought
would be lacking in mere ordinary
table from q professional place. Miriam
da was to look after the tea, and was
to lead off against the vicar, who, in
stead Of practicing, went to the British
museum to hunt up ancient authorities.
He said that before undertaking so Sc
rious a task he wanted to see whether
the Athenians had ever played the
game under another name. But, IN
spite of his putting it in that way, ne
grew just as keen about pingponS as
anybody else and actually made his
wife practice with him one evening.
They quarreled for the first time in
their lives because she wouldsserve into
his waistcoat, and he said it was TAX
ing a mean advantage.
When the eventful evening came, we
had the Old sewing clubwomen on one
side of the room and the blanket fund
old men on the other-"Montagues and
Capulets," the Rev. Arthur called
them. Burridges and Hindleys would
have been nearer the mark. Then the
vicar opened the proceedings in his
usual absentminded way, as if he were
at a penny reading, and from mere
force Of habit announced that "Mr.
Recitation would give Smith" Be
fore he could be prevented young
Smith began on "It was at Flores, in
the Hazores," and Noel was the only
person present who had the pluck to
stop him. He has hated her ever since
We started with myself and the vic
ar, and he didn't play badly for be-
ginner, although between "serves" he
frequently stopped to explain that he
had seen q picture Of prehistoric Ping
pong" in Punch and that if any one
would give him Mr.. Reeds address he
would communicate with him on the
subject, as even prehistoric animals
had their feelings and could doubtless
be Influenced for good if treated with
kindness. When he lost, he became a
little testy; so we played it all over
again, and I let him, as Noel said,
''romp home an easy winner" That
dear child is learning the most ex-
traordinary expressions from her bos-
ON friend the landlord Of the Spotted
Dog.
After Miranda had won her game
against the churchwarden no one else
III Tue Village iJIOlcSSeo W OhOSA ASlSAO
pingpong or to have the hardihood to
play it in public, SO about o'clock we
came to the Capulets and Montagues,
the Burridges and the Hindleys, the
blanket fund and the sewing club.
Noel told me afterward, with seraph-
ic smile, that she and the landlord Of
the Spotted Dog had arranged with
the villagers that they were not to in
terferc. The landlord had dim sort
Of idea what Miss Jarvis was going to
do, and he worshiped Noel to such an
extent that the child believed that if
he could have ''got att the Rev. Ar
thurs modest glass Of table beer he
(tbe landlor6) would have "hocused"
the poor curate or painted his bit, )"
whatever that may mean.
When old Mrs. Burridge's name was
called, she smiled at Miss Jarvis and
said, do e tell the gentry, dearie, as
his reverence is goin' tU play for me,
u ~ y L. III,