The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-06-02
Copyright by Strickland w. GilIiian.)

SN1S0 e~SoAh papa oSAAh CbC, IL .
that fifty-seven-variety sister of hers
that / must add to my collection. The
female goodwill for mine. You and my
governor went to school together at
Oberlin, so you know that part of it.
/ have enough wealth to have spoilt
any common your man. At least
that's the effect IL has had on me.
And now if you make the property
consideration big enough I'll just an
mex this Canada thistle of yours and
have her eating out of my hand in a
week or two. Am | on?"
ITS bet" said Baptista, wonder
ing where the catch was Then he
went ahead and gave a list of Stand
ard Oil stock and town lots in Ho-
boken that would go with the girl, also
promising a double number of trading
stamps. And Pete, who hadn't been
in any sort of scrape that was really
interesting for long time, was tickl-
ed clean through, and told the old man
to unleash the maneater
When Kate came in Pete called her
by her front name, and announced
their nuptials. This removed the
zephyrs from her tops1s somewhat.
but she had enough breath left for a
poppery comback. Pete landed a
short arm conversational counter to
the short ribs, and Kate upper-cut,
but fell short, owing to a quick side
step. There was no Dotty Dialogue
business about that at all. The worst
she got, the better Pete seemed to be
enjoying himself, and it had Kate
groggy but game at the last of the
first round. She was used to the kind
of people that fell dead when she
said Boo" and she had enjoyed
booming the undertaking business.
But when she had a husky one in
front of her who swallowed greedily
and yelled More" when she dealt her
worst cards, it was different. She told
her father, who crawled out from I'M
der the sofa about that time, that the
friend he had brought was all to the
bughouse, and that he ought to be TAX
en- back before his regular keeper got
lonesome. Then Pete told Baptista
and the rest of the gutta-perchas that
butted in at that moment that they
had had a very pleasant session, in
deed, and that she was dead in love
with him already.
ITS us to the altar next Sunday"
Kate stated Rats" and f1odnced
away with her temper ruffled, while
pa went and auctioned Off Blanca to
the highest bidder.
The day of the wedding came, and
everybody was ready. But no Pete.
Everybody was perfectly dippy. Kate
had a hemorrhage of talk that would
have scorched an asbestos curtain.
Turning on the tear-faucet she hiked
for the hay, and old Baptista for once
said, Don't blame her a Bit
And then came Pete. Oh, no; he
wasn't the scarecrow, at all. Neither
was his horse a cadaver. Huh, uh.
That plug he was riding had cornered
the blemish market and was holding
for a rise. If there was any disease
he didn't have he'd been exposed to
it and had put it on the waiting list
till he had room for it. He didn t
have enough fat on him to lubricate
the muzzle Of gimlet, and the buz,
yards simply sat on the fence and
frightened their belts and waited.
Pete himself looked as if he had taken
bath in a glue vat and rolled through
a junk-shop. Everybody laughed but
father, who was glad just the same
that the relief expe dition had come
any old way. They told Pete to hur-
ry up and get dressed so he cou". see
Kate and go to church as the preach.
er was there and the crowd of rubber.
necks outside was threatened with
cervical paralysis.
Dress, nothin'!" said Pete. This
is my wedding outfit. It's me Hates
hitching to, not my toys"
And the nervy bug meant it, too. |
don't suppose anybody ever saw an
other trousseau like that, Or wedd
ing, either, for that matter; for when
the preacher asked her if she'd have
him Pete butted in and said: You
bet your life, old Gloomy Gus. What
do you suppose she's here for? To
buy box of invisible hair pins or q
pair of dress shields? If you'll try to
be intelligent for few minutes, I'll
buy the headache powders after.
ward"
Well, this scared the knot-tyer SO
bad he dropped his book, and when
he stopped to pick it up Pete swatted