The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-07-25
Two on a Tour
BY TROY ALLISON.
Copyrighted. 1897, by Mary McKeon.
By TROY ALLISON.


solemnly slow descent of twenty min
utes, and RhOda Jamison, feeling some
what Overawed by the world as seen
from the top of the monument, sat
down ON a bench near the elevator
door. She needed few minutes to re-
adjust her thoughts and to plan for
the rest Of the day.
Rhoda had saved every possible pen.
ny from her salary during the school
term In order to take this Washington
trip and had determined to crowd as
much sightseeing into her ten days as
any other Washington tourist had
ever done.
She had spent hours with the visit
ing milliner in her town planning ev-
cry detail of the time and had finally
arrived in the city and taken cab di.
rectly to the quiet lodgings she had
recommended. The milliner had, how
ever, forgotten to take into cOnSidera-
ton the fact that the girl had never
been accuStOmd to city and to city
ways and had therefore failed to pre-
pare her for the feeling OF deSolatlon
aud loneliness that grew more and more
oppressive every minute.
The Congressional library had sat
istied her love of elegance, the capitol
and the White House had seemd like
old friends from the pictures in the
geography and history from which she
had taught for months, but in her
classes she had been the personality.
Here she seemed to dwindle into moth
ingness, and the things that had been
mere ideas and pictures lowered over
her oppressiVely, and she was over
come by her fIttleness and her loneli-
ness and lOnged for some one to speak
TO her with hint Of friendly Interest.
The big broad Shouldered man sit
ting on the other end of the bench she
had seen walking down the steps Of
the monument He had evidently felt
so secure in his superb physical
strength that he walked down to ex.
anime more closely the Inscriptions on
the stones that could not be studied so
well from the elevator.
She saw him take a fountain pen
from his pocket, adjust 1t and finally
sort a package of souvenir post cards
and begin writing industriouSly.
She remembered the package she had
bought to send her pupils, SO she took
her own pen from her hand bag and
commenced racking her brain for little
things to write that would amuse them.
The postal she liked best of all, q
daintiy cOlored view of the monument
itself, she addressed to her mother.
Across 1t she wrote, ITS so very big,
and feel so little and so lonely"
She leaned forward to flirt bit Of
dust from the tip Of her pen, and
Whit Of air blew the postal from her
lap and left it lying at the big mans
feet
He saw it there and, thinking he had
dropped one OF his own, stopped and
picked it up, reading it leisurely.
Il feel so little and lonely" he read.
and, surprised, turned to meet the
flushed face of the girl.
Its mine" she said, holding out her
hand for It,
''Do you feel that way, too?" he ask
ed eagerly That's me exactly"
81 shouldn't have called you really
'little'" she answered, with the frank
friendliness of Il girl who had never
met with a circumstance that would
cause her to be suspicious Of humanity
Il reckon you are referring to the first
part of the sentence. 1T is so big
would really seem more suitable"
That's right" he laughed. looking at
the postal but that just proves that
can hold more loneliness than you, for
l am feeling lonely from the sOles Of
my feet to the top OF my new felt hat
that l bought in Carson City to see the
sights Of Washington in"
"At least you are farther from home
than |. I'm from South Carolina" she
chatted, three days abstinence from
conversation having left her with a
surplus on hand.
Il was just sending some Of these
things to the boys" he said. "They
are living in a shack near mine, and 1t
will tickle 'em immensely to get these
pictures of civilization. You see, we
ging away for gold without any sue
cess, and just as we'd fallen into fit
of gloom and shortage in grub, why,
we struck it rich"
How lovely! Did you find it in
Chunks?" Her eyes sparkled like II
child's.
That's about the size of it," he
laughed, with whole Souled hearti.
ness he hadn't experienced for days.
1--WE sure found 1t in large sized pieces,
and | just thought I'd take vacation
to see the world. I've never been east
before"
"DO you like IT." She failed TO put
as much doubt as to the charms Of
Washington in her tone as she might
have put half an hour earlier.
"Pve been about the loneliest person
the dome ever shadowed. l could get
on very well in the daytime, but I've
wanted to sit round the fire at night
and talk it over with the boys. How
long are you going to stay?" he asked
eagerly.
Ten days. I've been here three. "
His face heightened visibly.
"I'll be here whole month";" he
added dolefully. why don't you stay
longer"
You see l haven't struck it rich--ln
huge chunks. The trustees of my
school are rather parsimOnious lot"
II don't know much about eastern
etiquette. but | wonder If it wouldn't
We tolerably proper for us to do some
sightseeing together this afternoon p
he said with touch of boyish shyness.
Il wonder" she said slowly.
The joy Of companionship settled the
IL n.