Evening journal., 1905-01-09
a Graduates Story


me when / became OF age you would /
tell me that story Of your student life.
I'm twenty-one today"
well. Frank. IN keep my promise.
When l was in college made the ac-
Quaintance Of girl we viii call Nan |
cy. You see. your mother might be !
jealous, and / wouldn't like her to
know the girls real namo. Nancy and
l kept getting spoonicr and spoonier, |
and. her father getting on TO the stu
alton, forbade me the house. II wasn't
that lac had any objection 70 me except
that ] was only a college boy With two
years Of study before me, besides
course in agriculture, TO be taken aft
er graduation AS for Nancy, he pro
posed that she should spend three or
four years more on her education. Per
haps II he had let US alone we might
have got over It IN time without max
ing ninnies Of ourselves. AS It was,
he drove us into one OF the sililest per
formances on record-an elopement.
1.-THE time we chose for this absurdity
was IN midwinter just after one OF tho
heaviest snowstorms we had had In
years Our plan WAS for me 10 pick
up Nancy on the road, take her 20
my sleigh to the junction, get spllccd
there, drive her back and say nothing
about the matter tn we had finished
our education Nancy was at the place
OF rendezvous all done up in firs and
with n pair OF cheeks which tho frost
tinged with the hue OF red apples.
She jumped into the sleigh, | pulled
up the robe. and we started
Nancy told me that her father wGg
suspicious Of her, and she thought he
had been watching her, SO I had bet
ter drive pretty fast This ! did so
far ms l could, but the road between
our college town and the junction Is
hiliy. and the snow wns deep and un-
4 trodden with occasional bad drifts. So
our progress was necessarily slow.
Nancy kept looking back uneasily. and
when we reached the top Of a rise
about n mile from the town Nancy,
upon glancing 70 the rear, gave my
arm e grip, exclaiming
"'Oh. my goodness graciousr
Turning my bead, / saw a sleigh
! descending the next slope behind us
drawn by two horses. who were gallop-
/ ing through the snow, scattering II like
spray. or course / knew we were fol-
lowed. and, giving the horse cut, we
started down our decline. scattering
snow IN the same fashion. But
knew that one horse was no match for
two horses with an equal load, and It
occurred to me that our plan would be
nipped unless could hit upon a STRAIT
agem.
Nancy, l said, I'm going to drop
you in a drift
"What forT she asked.
"Tll do It when your father is on
the other side OF the rise and can't see
us
"'But what will do thereT
ellie low til he has passed, then
walk home. lie hasn't seen who is in
this sleigh; the back is too high, and
the robe behind Is above our heads
. ,"fAll. right said Nancy. This looks
like a good place we're coming to-
p Il pulled up beside n drift more thar
G ten feet deep and, that I should no
: show any tracks. took Nancy up anC
+ tossed her feet foremost into IT, Thu
snow was light. She went down three
q Quarters OF her length and wrigglet
down the rest OF tie way. l drove OF
and when I got to the top OF the mex
hill looked back. In a few minutes the
pursuing sleigh appeared, and knew
had not been seen dropping Nancy
i kept up q good pace, hoping to draw
I. her father on so far that he wouldn't
run against her on the way back. l LED
: him as far as the bridge, when l SLOWED
up and let him overtake me. When h'
j saw no one in the sleigh ne looked
somewhat mystihed for a moment, theT
: said savagely:
"'You young rascal, what have yor
got under that robeT
u Nothing
"'Yes, You have. You students thlnl
you're q match for Satan In deviltry
but you can't fool me- Pull up tho
! robe
Il drew up the robe so that he coult
> see the bottom Of the sleigh. He wa
! thunderstruck. But, too disgruntled e
apologize for his mistake, he turnet
!. about without a word and drove bnci
: to town. It's four miles between thu
town and the junction, and since l ha'
! dropped Nancy a mile from the town
knew she would have plenty Of time t
8 get back home.
/. "When saw her again she told M
that when her father came in he SAT-
o nothing to her about her ride, but late
! asked her where she had been.
/ "'To Aunt sarah's,' she answered
r "The little liar" put in Eleanor Not
+ kins.
n "Liarf" exclaimed the mother In
y dignantly. mot at ALL She stopped a
/ Aunt sarah's ON her way home so tina
e Aunt Sarah would confirm what sh
? intended to tell her father"
J. "why. mother" asked Eleanor, "wha
e do you know abont it?'
e The mother with vexed smile, ben
p again over her work.
r "She ought TO know" said the Il
Their, with a twinkle In his eye. "She'
Nancy"
The daughter laughingly embrace
( her mother.
!. 'But when were you married.
3 asked Frank.
Z ssr,,. -, 4-tc.4 a. ,r,,f,, fr, a xrooir an