Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1903-07-03


way TO give you thrills down your
spine. She had the Co I'D girls gbee
quartet up TO help Der. They all wore
little silk American hags pinned TO
their white dresses just as she did, and
after she finished the Declaration they
sang a new patriotic song one OF the
club herself had written TO the grand
old air OF Rally Round the Flag. Boys,
words that both north and south could
unite In singing whole hearted. Ola
soldiers OF the civil war wiped their
eyes, women kissed the little flags they
wore. The girl had got the school chill
dren together-she let the boys in on
that-and dressed them In United
States flag tableau. In the upper LETT
hand corner of a rectangle of benches
rising one above another the girls sat.
They wore blue dresses and carried
small white parasols, star shaped. The
bows wore red and white muslin caps
and capes and sat In red and White
stripes below and TO the left OF the
girls. Girls waved the star parasols,
boys waved their red and white caps
Wasn't IL a fine idea, Phil? oh, you've
nothing TO say.
Next a sweet old saint of woman
with white hair told the gaping chill
dren what women, too, had done for
their country. She told them how in
l7IT Esther Zane the first, long ago
relative of the young lady who had
read the Declaration. volunteered TO go
out from the stockade at Fort Henry
In Ohio when the Indians were all
around them firing bullets into the fort
and bring from the cabin of Ebenezer
Zane keg Of powder, for the men In
the stockade were out of ammunition"
"Wellr
"Well, the white haired old saint told
as next of Mother Bickerdyke, the SOL
diers' angel in the civil war. She saved
thousands of lives, Union and Con-
federate alike. Many night follow
ing a fight, even in the storm and bit
terest weather. an officer would per-
haps see twinkling light upon the
| battle field after the hospital corps
had abandoned II, and the light would
be from lantern carried by Mother
Bickerdyke, out with an orderly ex-
aiming the bodies If perhaps there
might not yet be spark of life re-
naming In some"
"Wellr
"Well. after that the American flag
children sang My Country, IT'S OF
Thee Then while the women's or
chestra played Yankee Doodle we as
sembled for our basket picnic dinner.
Phil that was the most fetching
Fourth of July celebration l ever at,
tended. pestered with not one of your
long winded orators that are such a
nuisance In the meetings Of US men,"
Linda Miles, who is that coming
this way with John Marston? Very
good looking for a man.!
THAT, Esther, is Philip Altman, Mr.
Marston's cousin. He is here for the
vacation"
Linda, you don't mean it! This
person looks really manly. Philip
Altman, of all creatures contemplate
He heads the fellows that tried tC
keep us girls off the college campus
and he's written the meanest things
about us Of anybody in the college pa
per. Linda. sometimes I'm afraid I'm
getting to hate men. and I'm sorry fol
It, because the emotion of hatred i.
not a good one to indulge-reacts psy
chologically ON the health. hope thai
| shall never meet that Altman"
But Of course the two did meet later
When they were introduced Esther
Zane stiffened her lips visibly; Philip
Altman assumed his Indifferent drawl
John Marston smiled.
The two foes met often. She treated
him with the barest civility at first
which Altman was not used to from
girls, and it hurt his vanity. Present
ly, however, Esther remembered tina
we should be kind to our enemies 81
as to heap Goals of fire upon theil
heads. She suddenly turned abou
and became sweet as an angela fal
off angel, that Is, and unattainable
Philip Altman noticed that of all hel
frippery loving sex Esther Zane wal
one of the fripperiest. She wore vel
low muslins that enveloped her like {
halo, now again gray that yelled he
In mist. He heard the swish of .
silk petticoat as she passed him il
street gown. She even wore chains
and bangles. What pity a girl lik,
this had distorted her true womanly
nature by adopting the strong minded
role!
History moves swiftly with hearts IL
hot weather. Once at twilight through
the open window Philip heard Esthe
singing love song-low, sweet ant
tender. He sat still and listened ant
thought the rings Of smoke he lazil!
blew from his lips were just the colo
Of Esther Zane's prettiest gray stree
gown. Then he said to himself:
II wonder II there is Juliet as wei
as Portia in Esther Zanep
After that night he discovered that
flower she had touched, book she hat
read, somehow had peculiar interes
for him-more than any other wo
mans books or flowers had ever held
When she and Linda Miles went for
morning spin upon their bicycles h,
often happened along there il the patl
In time to come home with them.
As for Esther Zane, when the stron)
hand OF this person of the hated Sc
touched her arm her heart beat taste
she knew. 1t was queer, but his eye
were cAlrer and keener than othe
fellows eyes, so that when he locke
at her she could not face him bacl
but dropped her eyes like a foolish