Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1905-02-24
WHAT JEAN SAW.

WHAT JEAN SAW.
Jean is 20 and pretty, but her ideas
about what is and is not proper are
just as positive as they could be If
she were 40 and plain.
She came home from Mackinac ISL
and on one of the big steamers last
week without sign Of chaperon or
escort of any kind.
The first morning out she buttoned
her brown jacket, pinned her brown
cap to her brown curls and started
for a brisk walk on deck. Twenty
times around the boat was her pro-
gramme and her path carried her past
crowds of people snuggled in chairs
with their feet on the rounds of other
chairs, chatting, reading, dreaming.
She saw them all in the mass lament
ing their general Incidence in a strict
ly impersonal fashion until, the first
time round, she came on two persons
sitting near the stern of the boat,
who caught her attention in a differ
ent way.
They were in a retired nook on the
sunny side, aloof from every one else
but equally aloof from each other as
far as companionship went. The girl
an attractive little figure in dark
blue, with roseleaf complexion I'M
der a white corduroy cap-had placed
her chair so that its back was en-
phatically turned to the man, who was
to all appearances an intruder in her
coy corner. The wretch that he was
sat there with his cap pulled over his
eyes, a book held upside down in his
hands and his impertinent gaze fixed
on the pink ear and fluffy back hair of
the girl who was trying to ignore him.
All this Jean saw in one quick
glance as she hurried past and 1t
made her blood boil.
She decided not to stop at once,
however The following pictures this
couple made for her Mortified contem-
plation as she came upon them time
after time in her rounds of the deck:
l. Girl intent on studying a pass
ing barge. Man intent on studying
girl.
2. Man picking up comb that has
slipped from the girls back hair. Girl
receiving it colby, blind to his smile
and lifted cap.
3. Man LEANING forward to gaze
with laughing appeal into girls face.
Girl flushing Indignantly, twisting
away and fairly launching her Shout
der, in disdain OF his attentions,
4. Man suddenly thrusting his book
right side up now-under girls
eyes, while his finger marks a certain
passage. Girl glancing down at it in
voluntarily and the next instant scorn-
fully looking the other way.
5. Man, with mischievous insol-
ence, moving his chair so that it d.
rectly faces girl. Girl haughtily
changing the position of hers so that
its back is toward the man once more.
6. Girl gathering up her belongings
as If to go. Man catching her by the
hand. Girl lingering. "Oh, ought to
stop it," thought Jean, as she march
ed on.
7. Girl seated again, though with
reluctant manner, not resisting.
8. Man with girls hand in his. Girl
with eyes downcast Man murmuring
something earnest and continuous.
Jean had not been around the boat
twenty times. but after she passed
that last tableau she felt that in the
interests of propriety something
must be done. If that young girl
didn't know enough to behave by her
self some one would have to help her!
Jean was tingling with the reform
er's courage as she neared the couple
on the tenth round. She came up be-
mind them as noisly as she could. She
stopped and tapped the railing with
her toe; she coughed They were
deaf and blind. The shameless man
had an arm around the unspeakable
girl and the next minute-he-yes, he
actually kissed her!
And she let him.
Il