Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1904-07-06
A LOVE GAME
IOriginal.1

to hammer me numerically; then it
and l against Tom.
] When Lydia first saw us together,
she held her breath, expecting to see
me land a blow plumb between Toms
| eyes. Then she expected to see Tom
: pick up a poker and brain me. But
when the process was repeated be-
tween Tom and Bob she began to won.
der what it all meant. Finally she be-
came fascinated with it.
'I'm going to try it with Mae" she
said to me.
Better not. Women won't stand
that sort of thing" said to her.
I'D like to know why. They can
stand it just as well as men-that is,
If they want to-"
That's it exactly; they don't want
| to-"
81 shall explain it all to Mae; then
We'll begin"
you'll lose your friend. I tell you
what you do. Begin with a man. Spe-
cialists going in for a dangerous ex-
pertinent first try it on dog. will
be your dog in this instance
"You don't seem to have very high
opinion of yourself"
Never mind that. You wish to be
on what will call abusive terms with
very dear friend. After you have
proved that you can stand such treat
ment yourself it will be time enough
to try it on Mae. When shall we be-
gin?'' =
"Now."
every well: now it is. We will play
rubber of pingpong. will treat you
exactly as l do Tom and Bob. If l
offend you during two games, you give
up your attempt with Mae"
She accepted the terms and we went
to the table. She served the ball. At
the first serve it struck the line be-
tween the courts.
Get that squint out of your eye" l
remarked, "and put the ball in the
court"
l could see the blood mount to her
| cheek, but, with spasmodic effort, she
controlled herself and gave me the
at pingpong; when returned it l land
| ed it in her eye.
you did that on purpose" she said
holly.
"Of course l did, and I'll do it again
| If you give me another such ball.
| That's not your side of the table. Stand
on the other side"
J She darted an angry glance at me,
but bethought herself, and, biting her
| lip, proceeded with the game. We had
a number of spirited returns, and at
last she missed the ball and 1t rolled
under q sofa. She waited for me to
get it. Since l was playing with a
woman and 1t was only in words that
/ was to treat her as a man, COM
piled. But l gave the usual grumble,
IF you can't do any better than that,
I'll send a balloon at you"
Again she bit her lip, but said moth
ing except to count, making a mistake.
"Fifteen-love."
"See here" / said, laying my racket
on the table IF you can't win the
game by fair count, you'd better give
it up"
II meant love-fifteen; you know
very we'll l did You're trying to ag-
gravate me. I'll aggravate you and
see how you like it,
She served the ball viciously, and it
fell clear of the table.
There you-you horrid thing"'
THAT'S fine repartee. You'd make a
good end man at minstrel show
BY this time her eye shone with sup
pressed anger, and her cheeks were
flaming The game had only been be-
gun, and considered it ungenerous to
push her too hard, SO let her alone
till we stood forty-deuce; then began
a little prodding. She had very lugu-
brious look on her face, partly from
anger and partly from injured inno-
cence.
"Come, Mrs. Dismal" said. "Why
don't you weep few tears? They'd
blind your eyes and give me the game"
IL don't care. You're acting horri-
bly,. / never heard you talk this way
before, even to Tom or Bob"
well, now, like that. This would
be peaches and cream to either of 'em.
Vantage out"
She was so flustered that she missed,
though l lad put the ball in the center
of her court.
"That was foul!' she exclaimed.
"Oh, you plead the baby act, do you"
Nothing of the kind! / say it was
a foul ball."
"Well call 1t off. Well call 'em all
off except those that strike your racket.
You'd better ram the handle in your
hair and go to sleep. I'll send the ball
against it and do your playing for
you"
This can hardly be called feather
| but it broke the camePs back" She
threw down her racket, put her hands
to her eyes, and, going to a sofa, buried
her face in a pillow. 1t ended the
game which was to decide whether a
woman could stand a mans treatment
| of a man. 1t was the end of another
game which we two had been playing,