The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1905-03-24

sea moaned as it broke I'm sobs along
the shore. They do that kind of thing
all right. used to think that went
with the summer man, but 1t doesn't.
MacGregor Clarence Blair said he
hadn't showed up since breakfast, and
he'd seen him makinga n bee line for the
glen, and he'd said, whats yer hurry r.
and the professor had sgm he hoped
he could have one morning in peace to
study without that laundering crowd
Of old maids hiking after him. a
We didn't believe MacGregor. He
looks like pale, new sand fly, and his
father and mother own all of No Mans
Land The professor never in oil this
world used such words as hiking and
laundering, but MacGregor did. There
fore, 1 may say, in the same common
parlance, that the whole laundering
crowd Of old maids pitched In and lam
basted :MacGregor until his pretty
white linen suit was not fair to see and
his twining curls were full OF sand
burs. Then he howled and retracted,
and we all went up the glen after the
professor. ,ts,ss
The glen deepens and darkens as you
go in, and the sides are rocky and pre-
cipitous, with much shrubbery and un-
dergrowtll and scraggly pine trees list
cd to windward. And Just as the first,
streak of lightning quivered in the sky
we heard faint shout for help.
1t was the professor. He hung sus-
pended in air on the bare limb of d
dead pine that jutted out from the rock
halfway up the bluff, like Genius on
Pegasus, the widow said-on petrified
Pegasus.
Then Genevieve Perley, our college
product, said Pegasus couldn't be pet
rffed. He would have to be .ossified.
And the widow began to cry and sat
down on a log and said she didn't care
bit either way, ,ossified or petrifed,
| and Professor Vogel was such lovely
man and always paid his board like a
gentleman, and she hated to see him
killed before her eyes, and she never
felt so much like fainting before in all
her life -
Genevieve said faintlng was counted
| out. He was n fine target for light
| ming up there, and, while it was none Of
her business and she had no interest In
the professor as lovely man or in the
| continuance Of his regular board pay
| ing, still she thought rope might be a
good thing.
I'm mountainous countries" began
Agatha, the artist, who has been Eu-
ropized, 81 believe they tie rope
| around the waist Of one person.
Its the shoulders" said Genevieve;
''kind OF n slipknot."
The professor shouted for help again,
| this time fainter still.
''No; the waist" said Agatha firmly.
"And lower that person over the noun
| tain side until he rescues the other
| party"
Lets lower MacGregor," murmured
Genevieve, but the widow cried and
| said her feet were getting wet and she
didn't think it was right to Joke In the
face OF death. That braced us up, be-
cause the professor did look like 1t, SO
| while the fieeting moments sped Gene
We've and 1 sped fleeter and found
| some clotheslines and couple Of husky
lads In sweaters from the peanut stand
| and the boathouse and we sped back to
the glen.
Then the husky lads climbed the
bluff on the sandy side and did the
Alpine act with the clotheslines, assist
ed by several ropes from the boatbouse,
| and before our eyes the professor was
pulled back to life and liberty.
He is resting now. 1t is dark and
| still at the villa. No hops or mando-
| lins tonight. The shock will bring him
| to, / think, from the botanical dream
| and cause him to concentrate his Joy
on some loving, sympathetic heart, and
it may be your PERDITA.
Monday.
shall be home ON the Tuesday boat.
The other girls are packing too. The
| overseer has tainted. Only the profess
or Is serene. He was up bright and
| early this morning to meet the COS
train, and when he came back he had a
| Mrs. Professor and three little Profess.
| or Juniors tagging merrIly along after
him.
No, don't think men were deceivers
ever. I think 1t was absentminded-
ness. Only Mrs. Professor gave the
muses. their crushing blow when she
| said she was so glad we had all Joined
the professors summer botany class,
as he had reduced the course rate to
$40, and she thought it was the sweet
est. most eleyating study one could
take up. We all assured her 1t was el-
evating. 1t was--for the professor. e.
And we're all going home tomorrow.
Yours for single blessedness.
PERDITA. +
|