Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1904-01-19
THE NIGHT OF
THE STRAW RIDE.
ny EMMA a. orrnn.

; iDfOke OH, Tor l)Ot race was luSu'
brious.
II can't go, Harlow she said,
Cant gop Harlow echoed.
Cant go to the straw ride! Who
says you can't?"
; cousin Tirzah," said Dot,
Q speaking low, and Harlow saw
that Mrs. Eldred, Dots Cousin
! Tirzah, was within hearing. and
} he backed down the steps, his face
showing his sympathy.
"Who was it?' Cousin Tirzah
inquired.
Harlow Seaman" said Dot,
her voice trembling.
about that straw ride? Well"
said Cousin Tirzah. II wouldn't
have you going off like that, with
great, noisy raft Of Youngsters"
Its just the boys and girls in
our set" said Dot
Going Off goodness knows
where" Cousin Tirzah pursued,
land getting home goodness
knows whenw
It's only five miles over to
Fanny GoodSclI'S. and they're
coming home real early" said Dot.
THAT will dc" said Cousin Tir-
2ah II have my reasons, Doro-
thea. | don't believe i'm letting
girls of your age so traipsing off
five or six nights in the week toall
kinds Of doings. II isn't good for
them"
"NcS'm." said Dot. and she tried
to think about that. Cousin Tir-
Zah was good 10 her. She was Il
very distant cousin. but when
Dots father had died and left her
alone, being a widow. and very
comfortably off, Cousin Tirzah
had taken Dot. and had given her
Il home.
But, oh, dear " only Cousin |
Tirzah did not have such strange
ideas about girls. Dot did so
dearly love Il good time now and |
then. All the other girls could go. |
and have fun enough to talk about |
for a week afterward.
Dot tried 10 eat her supper |
chcerrulIy, but an hour after sup |
per she found that her mind was
just where il had been.
I've got kind of headache
she said, forlornly. II guess TT |
90 10 bed, Cousin Tirzah."
ALREADY? Very well. Take
my camphor bottle said Cousin
Tirzah.
TIP in her room. lot leaned out
at the window. The moon was al
most fnlI aud the world bright
beneath it, What Il night for a
straw ride, Hark she heard
some of them going past. on then
way nv Della Ridgeley's, talking
and laughing and carrying on"
She listened 10 the last merry
echo. \ big. hot tear splasbcd
down on the sill.
Suddenly she jumped TO her
feet She looked al herself in { he
dim glass. Such an amazing idea %
had come into her head thai she
could scarcely believe il was she
who had thought Of it, She began
To breathe fast. If she only dared
do il. Il was not much after 7 30
perhaps they had not started yet;
perhaps if she hurried she might ,
catch them. She pinned her hat
on. She tied a fresh ribbon around
her neck, with trembling fingers,
and she found her heart beating |,
high rs she stole down the stairs.
The back doors were fastened |'
for the night Dor softly nm L
fastened and opened n window
and climbed out. |;
II can come back this way" she
thought "C0usin Tir2ah won't {
notice that it's OPEN
She hurried through the garden
and climbed the back fence, the
shortest cut TO Della Ridgeley's |
was across lots. And. in spite OF
all her dreadful, gnawing qualms, +
she pulsed with JOY. She was
free; she was going on the straw
ride, and she was recklessly hap
Ply.
She ran through a stubby rye
field, and through wide pasture.
1t was Mr.. Emery's pasture; in