Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-11
AUNT BETsEY BEGAN TO MAKE HER ROUNDS.

quite the slipperiest of all. He, all uncon-
sciouS of the wrongs which she was put
ting on him, gave much less attention to
the important task of making friends OF
mothers than to that of flirting, clumsily,
with her. The fact that each woman Wnom
he neglected in that tent, each infant whom
he passed with but a glance, had influence
upon at least one vote, seemed not to occur
to him at ALL Never did the bright eyes of
lorelei lure seaman more surely or more
charmingly to his destruction than did the
srapping eyes of Betsey Bobbin lead Jake
Musser all astray that afternoon there In
the baby tent at Cooper'S picnic. And he
did not dream-just then-that this was so.
Their appearance at the door of the tent,
after Musser had made every serious error
into which her ingenuity could by any pos
sibiEty thust him in the time allotted to
the task was signal for a burst Of music
by his band. And. while it played, the dis
appointed mothers paused behind and held
an indignation meeting on the instant.
Many there We're there who were in tears.
The flashing eyes of others bespoke a feel
ing quite too strong for quenchment by
such gentle dew.
Aunt Betsey FASTENED to catch and but
tonhole Cooper, and he returned with her,
astonished. to view the riotouS proceedings
of the outraged mothers.
ITS worked" Kissed Betsey in the much
puzzled Cooper's ear. It's worked, Caleb,
thought it would They're fightin over
Mussers Judgments on them babies. Wen
go right in an calm EN- down
AS soon as the news was spread among
the indignant mothers that Cooper had ar
rived there was a moments hush-if hush
may be said to have been possible beneath
that baby shelterng canvas-followed by a
rush toward him that threatened to sweep
him from his feet Laughing and good
I naturedly he took it-and, well, women al
ways like big man better than they do a
little fat man, anyway Many of them
were quite too angry to forget their griev
ances Immediately, but the smiles of Coop
and his jolly comments soon restored
| something quite near to calm as could be
| reasonably expected. Laughingly he ell
! bowed his way unaided amid the much
| excited crowd of mothers until he reached
| a station just in front of where Jacob
| Musser had recently so pompously grated.
/ What seems to be the trouble, ladieS?'
| lie asked, then.
| He was answered by a clamor which it
| was quite impossible to assert into separate
| remarks.
What is it?'' he asked again you
| don't really mean to tell me that Jake ain t
| an expert jedge of babies! Well, now, l
want to know. I'll have to ask some of
| you mothers here to take me around and
| let me see the youngsters. l wanted to do
| it in the first place, for 1 certainly do love
| the leetle critters, but, as Jake was, sort
| Of my guest here at this picnic, l thought
! I'd let him have the incest job of all!
1t was not applause that greeted this; but
| 1t was chorus of "Ahs!' and There, you
| sees. which was from women infinitely
/ more expressive of approval than unnum-
| bered rounds of hand-clapping could have
been. And, Immediately, there began q
| personally conducted tour about that tent,
| which differed greatly from the stately
| progress made by Musser.
Cooper really loved children, and so he
did not have to counterfeit delight at seeing
| so many of them together. And he had a
way with them" There was no stern and
| disappearing consideration of a wailfng
! child by Cooper! The fact that child was
| h<nt a,,1 pt,ya nj
| make his big heart open to it. Certainly,
! in many instances, it made his strong arms
| reach out toward it and take it up and
| dandle it. while he cooed or whistled, or
| talked nonsense to it, until, before he had
| departed for the next infant in the array
| the weeping child had been transformed
| into laughing cherub, itself fascinated by
| the joys of this existence. and fascinating
| all beholderS by its own, delightful 10y.
| CoOper'S progress was a Veritable march of
| triumph.
By and by, after he had made the rounds
| he gathered up two smiling twins one on
| each arm, and climbed up to the platform
| with the grinning youngsters on his Shout
! ders. They were orphans, and one of them
was sadly crippled. this distinguishing
| mark of favor could arouse no jealousy
| among the mothers.
| And from that platform he made such a
| talk-it would be quite inaccurate to speak
| OF 1t as speech-that every mothers heart
| went out to him. He gave pompous
| platitudes about the future voter and the
| future voters wife. He told about the DAYS
| when he himself was young, and spoke in
/! homely words and made them laugh TI,a
| paid tribute to his mother-and, incide,-
! tally, to motherhood in general-and made
| them wipe their eyes. He spoke of naughty
children and of good ones, saying that thos,
| who had the most devil In them now wouJd
! probably be best behaved upon the morrow
| which soothed many mothers heart erst-
| while tormented by the fretfu!ness OF her
| youngsters in the tent, and was so true
hat tbA fAxrr tblyxa
| had been angelic during the progress of the
| exhibition could not feel that their merit
| had been at all belittled. He told tales that
| set the women laughing, and then almost
| bore his daughters and the many problems
| quite too complex for mere mans mind