Hattiesburg daily progress. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 18??-1909, 1903-12-02

IA fellow named Royal-well, that
enough Of his name, / guess-and
were out in West Virginia looking afte
some timber land for the Susquehann;
Lumber Company. 1t was a glorious
October, and many of the summer Wis
itors were still up in the mountains
among them family Royal had ono,
known In New England There was {
girl named-oh. well, she had Other
names, but the one I knew her bes
by was just Sweetheart, so We'll cal
her that. Royal managed to see good
deal Of her between whites, and KEPT
lingering on, giving the company one
preteXt after another, until sudden
change in the weather decided the girl
and her mother to start at once fol-
California, where they were to spend
the winter. Then all at once it occur
red to Royal that it mightn't be quite
the square thing to sit there breath
ing the air and letting the company's
money slip through our fingers, so the
party of us planned to leave the next
day but one.
THAT night a wheezy old freight
train disgorged Hagenback's whining,
growing, roaring troupe at the little
station. They were on their way to
Wheeling, having had no intention of
putting up at our small village, but a
variety of complications and cross-cur-
had combined to sidetrack them there
for a day or two.
Royal and l were both down at
Sweetheart's that night and she was
teasing Royal to take her to the me-
nageries. He chaffed her for wantir z
poor show, anyway. he declared, and
to go would be pure waste of good
October weather. She suggested, then,
that he take her haZel-nutting in the
snow-something to mark their last
day there on the mountain. He was
willing enough to do that. and it was
arranged that we should start early in
the morning, taking tie trail up the
mountain on the other side of the
railroad.
1.-THE fall of snow was light, but crisp
and crusty, crunehing under our tread
as we made our way up the ribbon of
path, for all the world like icing on
wedding cake laughed Sweetheart.
l remember bow the girls cheeks
glowed in the stinging air and her
merry laugh echoed in the frosty still
ness. Royal worshiped her - big,
blonde, and splendid, tramping there
by her side, holding back now and then
the overreaching branches, tossing
aside a stone or a fallen bough from
her way.
"Ts it just your name, I wonder
laughed the girl, or it it courtly, en-
broidered way you have of doing even
the smallest things that always makes
me feel like princess with you as at
tendant? M
Royal laughed, and she went on
mischievously: .tsr
"'You see, it's merely as a compli.
ment to myself that like to have you
with me- with a richly contradictory
glance, however, from under the mys.
terry of long dark lashes; you have
way of making me feel positively regal,
and them measuring his six feet two
with her dancing eye. you are so com.
fortably big and strong you make me
brave as we'll. I wouldn't be afraid of
a regiment with you-or a whole me-
nagerie.'
1.-The man turned deathly pale at the
last words, and in a fash 1 recalled a
scene of our childhood, which, though
1 was much younger than Royal at the
time, made a deep impression on me.
Royals mother had been terribly
frightened by one of those dancing
bears that men used to tramp through
the country with a generation ago. and
when her small boy opened his eyes on
the world at last she determined to
make him love all animals as much as
she herself feared them But from
babyhoOd he showed an unmistakable
antipathy toward even dogs and cats;
a cow would make him howl with ter
ror, and once, when he was four or
five, he actually went into spasms at
the sight of monkey. The incident l
years after that. was five or six my
self. and had just begun to attend the
new school that was built somewhat on
the outskirts of the little village, with
an eye to civic growth, and which was
also attended by rather rough ele-
ment from the factory settlement fur
ther down the pike. There were great
numbers of cattle raised in our part
Of the country, and it was the custom
to brand them and turn them loose on
the common lands, to save fencing.
We boys knew all that in general
way, of course, but we had both been
kept pretty closely at home, and when,
as great concession. Royal and l were
allowed to spend a half holiday with
one of the big boys at the settlement
we felt immensely important.
well. you know what brutes boys
was afraid of animals, and thought it
would be fine fun to see him scared.
OF course, neither of us knew what
was in the wind, but my childish shy
ness made me stick closely to him. and
we were both told to stand on a low.
fat stump in the middle of an open
space in what was then called the big
woods Our eyes were bandaged, and
we were to wait till the boys gave
three mysterious calls. when something
wonderful would happen. they said.
Royal had protested about the band