The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-09-27

EMMY LOU I'm THE
PRIMER CLASS.


came VA, the center aisle between the
sheep and the goats
Emmy Lou had no idea what happened.
1t took place behind her But there was
another little girl who did. 4. little gArl
who boosted curls, yellow curls In tiered
rows about her head. A lachrymosai ~
lie girl who affected great horror Of the
little boys.
And what Emmy Lou failed to see was
this: the little boy, In passing, deity
lift q cherished curl between finger ana
thumb and proceeded on his way. ..,
The little girl did not fall tho little
boy. In che suddenness OF the surprise
she surprised even him by her outcry.
Miss Clara jumped. Emmy Lou Jumped.
And the sixty-nne jumped And, fol-
lowing this, the little girl lifted her
voice in lachryrnal lament.
Miss Clara sat erect. The primer class
held its breath. 1t always held Its
breath when Miss Clara sat erect. Emmy
Lou held tightly to her desk beside. She
wondered what 1t was all about.
Then Miss Clara spoke Her accents
cut the silence.
billy Traver!"
Billy Traver stood forth 1t was the
little boy.
"slnce sou seem pleased to occupy
yourself with the little girls Billy, 60
to the pegs!"
Emmy Lou trembled. go to the pegs!"
What unknown. inquisitorial terrois lay
behind those dread, lacon,c words, Emmy
Lou knew not.
She could only sit and watch the little
boy turn and stump back down the aisle
and around the room to where along the
wall hung rows Of feminine apparel
Here no stopped and scanned the line.
Then he paused before n hat. 1t was
round little hat with silky nap and a
curling brim. 1t had rosettes to keep the
ears warm and ribbon that tied beneath
the chin. It was Emmy Louis hat Aunt
Cordelia had cautioned her to care con-
corning It,
Tho little boy took it down. There
seemed to be no doubt in his mind as to
what Miss Clara meant. But then, he
had been In the primer class from the be-
ginning.
Having taken the hat down he proceed
ed to put 1t on his own shock head. Ills
face wore it's broad and constant SMILE
One would have said the little boy was
enjoying the affair. AS no put the hat on
the sixty-nine laughed. The SEVENTEEN
did not. 1t was her hat, and besides, she
did not understand.
Miss Clara, still erect. spoke again:
."And now since You are little girl.
get your book, Billy, and move over with
the girls"
Nor did Emmy Lou understand why.
when Billy, having gathered his belong
.ngs together, moved across the aisle and
sat down with her, the slxty-nine laugh
ed again. Emmy Lou did not laugh. She
made room for Billy.
Nor did she understand when Billy
treated her to a slow and surrepttions
wink, his freckled countenance grinniag
beneath the rosetted hat. 1t never could
have occurred to Emmy Lou that Billy
had laid his cunning plans to this very
end. Emmy Lou understood nothing Of MI
this She only pitied Billy And present.
~, when public attention had become
diverted, she proffered him the hospitality
Of grimy little sate-rag. When Billy
returned the rag there was something
In it--something wrapped in beautiful.
glazed, shiny bronze paper. It was
candy kiss. Ono paid five cents for six
of them at the drug store.
On the road home, Emmy Lou ate the
candy. The beautiful shiny paper she
put In her primer. The slip Of paper that
She found within she carried to Aunt
Cordelia 1t was sticky and 1t was smear
ed. But it had reading on 1t.
But this is printing" said Aunt Cor
delin cant you read it,"
Emmy Lou shook her head.
Try said Aunt Katie.
'"The easy Words said Aunt Louise
But Emmy Lou. remembering cat,
pussy. shook her head.
Aunt Cordelia looked troubled. ''She GER
tainly isn't catching up, said Aunt Cor
della Then she read from the slip Of
paper:
Oh woman, woman thou vert made
The peace of Adam to invade.
Tho aunties laughed, but Emmy Lou
put 1t away with the glazed paper In ner
primer. 1t meant quite as much to her as
did the reading in that primer. Cat
cat, the cat, the bat, the mat, a rat. 1t
was the Jingle to both that appealed to
Emmy Lou.
About this time rumors began to reach
Emmy Lou. She heard that 1t was Febru-
ary and that wonderful things were pc
cuiar to the 14th. At recess the little
girls locked arms and talked valentines.
The echoes reached Emmy Lou.
The valentines must come from a lit
tie boy, or 1t wasn't the real thing. And to
get no valentine was n dreadful-dread-
full thing. And even the tmidest of the
sheep began to cast eyes across at the
goats.
Emmy Lou wondered If shc would get
a valentine. And If not, how was she to
survive the contumely and shame?
You must never, never breathe to a
living soul what was on your valentine.
To tell even your best and truest. girl
friend was to prove faithless to the little
boy sending the valentine. Those things
reached Emmy Lou.
Not for the world would she tell. Emmy
Lou was suro OF that, SO grateful did she
feel she would be to any one .eiding her
valentine.
And In doubt and wretchedness did she
wend her way to school on the fourteenth
day OF February Tho drug store Win
dow was full of valentines. But Emmy
Lou crossed tho street She did not want
to see them. She knew the little girls
would ask her If she had gotten n val
entne. And she would have to say, No
She was early. 4ne big, empty room
echoed back her footsteps as she went
to her desk to lay down book and slate
before taking off her wraps. Nor ais
Emmy Lou dream the eye of the little
boy peeped through the crack of the door
from Miss Clara's dressing room.
Emmy Louis hat and Jacket were for
gotten, On her desk lay something square
n nd w aNVp1Dna Ipo