The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-12-04
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AON HE hr6t day OF timothy
Fornham at the Los An
8 D geles high school was dis
80 tlnctly uncomfortable, and
SIOlS the other days of the week
were no less unpleasant 10 the boy.
Timothy's father and his family had
recently arrived "from the East"
which in Southern California means
from some portion Of the United States
east Of Denver; in nmothy's case it
referred to Southern Kansas, where
the waters of the shallow reams
grow warm early IN the summer and
stay warm till late in the fall.
Timothy found the Western boys Of
his own age no more than his equals
in school work, and hoped to gain
standing and make friends among
them, as he had done among school
mates I'm the EAST"
In the middle Of the morning session
Of the first day Timothy saw on his
desk an envelope addressed to him.
lie opeend it and drew forth the en-
closure Something few out as the
folded cardboard Enclosed, and limo
thy struck Mt It. uttering a shrek
worthy Of the most nervous sirl in
the room.
Then he discovered it was a kissing
bug" that is to say, a hairpin and
piece Of rubber so twisted together as
to unwind with q buzz when taken
from the envelope Timothy had been
startled even more than the maker Of
the kissing-bug had hoped and there
was smothored laughter among the
boys and giggling among the girls.
AS the teacher in charge turned tow
ard Timothy, William Peters rose.
Il put a kissing-bug on Mr.. Farm
hams seat" he said. Il thought he
would open the envelope before the
class was called to order, and, really
I didn't know that Timothy was so
timid" And the force of the teach
.er's reproof was lessened by the smile
he could not hide.
z, If the matter had ended there it
Would have been forgotten very soon.
But at noon Will, who was a leader of
the boys inclined to athletic sports,
declined to allow Timothy a place in
the lineup for practice football
game, and Timothy made such re-
marks as wit and i'll nature suggest
ed, the result being that two boys
who might have been good friends
,,-o,,o "a a fo;r vrorv 70 locnr,,o T,i+tov
enemies. To Timothy even this seemed
less to be regretted than the fact that
the other boys of the class were in
clined to follow Wills lead.
Three Of his friends, ALI johnson and
Joe and George Brown, were espe.
cially ingenious and persistent in in.
venting alltterctiys variations Of Tim.
othy, the Timid" and Humorous Tim
my" which the other boys took up and
repeated till it seemed that Timothy's
name was never mentioned without an
adjective implying cowardice. AS the
days passed. even the little fellows
in the classes below joined in the sport
greatly to Timothy's discomfort
Thinking over the matter, he sensibly
concluded to DO nothing until some.
thing seemed certainly the right thing
to do and he made no answer to gall
ing remarks.
Schoolboys as a rule soon tire Of any
game steadily pursued, and Timothy's
plan of non-resistance would in time
have secure immunity from persecu
ton at worst only half ill-natured
But his patience was rot put to test
On Saturday VIII and his three
friends rode down to the beach OF
their bicycles. reaching the seashorC
at s o'clock in the morning. limo
thy also decided to so swimming So
taking the electric car for Santa Mon
lea, he entered the b2thhouse from
the shore side as the clock strucF
10, He undressed, donned bathing
srfit-tiiIi went out on the beach.
Many people sat on the benches, an(
more on the sand but there were M
bathers in the water. The sea was like
2 vast mirror. Five or six hundred
feet from the land the shining waite
rose slowly, green ana graceful, as
heavy ground swell swept shoreward
Half way in flecks Of white foam ap
peared on the crest Of the little noun
in Of water; all the top grew whit
20 wave became perpendicular
mass toppled upon the sam
1dous slap that woke th
tufts till all other SCUM
he roar of surf a
beach.
and sound
ing spen
re schoC
alter ST