The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-09-03
TIE EVENING STORY
..Haxins : coed -
(By Donald Allen.)

pEem6iy happy. Inere were culckSllS
and ducks and geese-there were
guinea hens and doves and rabbits
there were innocent lambkins and
frolicking calves. and she had tried to
milk COW. fallen of fence ana
/ churned two pounds of butter. But for
Arthur Tyson this dream of bliss might
have continued another week, and
pretty Viola might have climbed to the
! roof of the wagon shed, sold paper
rags to a tin peddler and gone black
berrying down in the meadow as a
continuance of her romantic advent
ures.
Arthur Tyson had not only fallen ii
| love with her. but he was intending to
ask for her hand He hadn't pub
! lished his intentions in any of the yell
low journals, nor told the country post
mistress what was in his mind, but
Miss Viola had a line on him. You
can't fool girl about such things. The
man who is cOurring her may talk
ABOUT the joys of bachelor life and pre-
/ tend to be d cynic on affairs of senti-
ment but she can read him like a
book. When Arthur had said that he
| would arrive at Viola's aunt's on the
l4th-running down in his auto in the
forenoon and running back to the city
/ again in the eyening-there was a look
in his eyes that said there would be
/ netting doing.
The 14th came. and then things be-
gan to happen. A letter arrived from
/ arthur 10 say lnaL MS grandmother
wanted him to hurry to her dying bed
side; big humble bee came droning
along, even as Viola was reading the
letter While seated on the veranda, and
stung her on the bare arm; windmill
man called on business and tried to
t1irt with her. she was chased out OF
| the barnyard by calf, and chased
back again by a turkey gobbler; the
dog cot hold of her cute summer hat
ana cheWed 1t up. and she fell down
cellar while going after preserves and
larded on top of the family cat.
Several other vexatious things oc-
Cured between the morning of the
| l9th and noon of the next day, and an
hour after dinner Miss Viola made up
her mind to have a good cry. If she
cried IN the house her aunt who was
a sharp-eyed old lady, would see her
tears ana ask questions; if she went to
the barn to cry among the cackling
hens and new-mown hay the hired
man would come tumblins in: if she
hid away behind the grape arbor or the
currant bushes there were bugs to
crawl down her back as soon as she
was off her guard.
Down across the meadow and half
mile from the house there was a small
grove, and the discOnSolate girl finally
made up her mind that her tears of
sorrow should be shed around the roots
of those trees Her manner of lodging
her aunt and getting out of the house
and down to the grove would have been
a pretty girl who is looking for a crying
place should not be judged too harshly.
She found the grove capital place
for her business There was shade and
quietness and the whispering Of the
summer breeze through the leaves. and
Miss Viola went at it and let the tears
fall, her chin CULVER and her sobS
frighten away the lone chickadee that
was taking a daytime nap on a branch
about her head.
Mr.. Tyson hastened to the bedside Of
his dying grandmother, thinking thai
it would be a whole week before She
would die and be buried. and the will
mentioning him as sole heir read. ITnon
his arrival glad surprise awaited him.
1t was case of bilious collie ONLY
caused by eating too heartily of corned
beef and cabbage at the advanced age
of eighty-three.
He would have FASTENED awayat once
but the grandmother objected. She had
story to tell-a story of how that collie
graSped and gripped her and lasted her
ten hours before the doctor could bring
relie4 It took her all day to finish the
story, and then it took her nephew sew
eral hours in addition to convince her
that if he did not hasten back to town
the whole United States would turn
turtle
He made things hum when he got
started, but it was mid-afternoon of the
10Th when his auto arrived within can
non shot of the farmhouse which shell
tered the girl he meant to make his wife
ana OF the grove wherein a sad-eyed
maiden sat and wept That is she
wasn't sitting there just then. She had
other business on hand
At one O'Clock that afternoon, at the
railroad station two miles away a train
bearing one hundred lunatics on their
way to newly completed asylum had
been shunted on to the sidetrack to
let the express pass They were given
refreshments, and all of sudden,
Wnlle the guards were about their hos
pitable work, their vigilance relaxed
and a dozen of the unfortunate peo-
pie. men and women, escaped from the
cars and scattered over the country.
OF course, they were instantly pur-
sued, but three or four of them got a
long start. Guards and farmers and
farmers boys and farmers dogs took
up the pursuit with avidity
As Miss Viola sat in her grove and
Sobbed Wept and threw sticks at the
bugs crawling about she was startled
by whoops and yells and shouts She
brushed away her tears and depressed
her sobs and stepped cut of the shelter
of the grove to see what was up
She had heard of a rabbit being
routed out of a woodpile and whole
county joining in the chase, and it
flashed across her mind that this was
an occurrence Of the sort. She was
soon undeceived. Three men. four
boys and two dogs came running to-
ward her, and as she was seen there
were cries Of:
There is one of them. Come on,
boys. Head her of, and don't let her
get away!"
Men and boys and dogs bore down
on the helpless maiden, and almost be-
fore she could scream she found her
self grasped by both arms and being
hurried along She had been boosted
over a fence and hustled through a
thistle patch before she could gather
her wits. Then she began to struggle
J and protest. It was useless to strur-
gle. and the men and boys laughed at
her protestations- When fright made
her weak and she sank down one OF
the men took her on and kept business
moving. Before reaching the station
and the train they were met by one Of
guards. The girl revived sufficiently to
1