The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1907-10-15

floor of the Riverview court Paul
Laurison paced restlessly up and
down. Occasionally he stopped TO
look out at the spring landscape and
sighed.
you'll be all right now, my boy"
was the doctors parting shot. Gust
take plenty Of fresh air Get up on
the roof as often as you can"
"Confound the roofp' muttered Paul,
but he took his overcoat and went up.
In the apartment below the bach
elors', her eyes red with weeping, Syl-
via Randall was washing out lin
gerie waist
tits mean of Sarah not to come
today she complained, regarding her
shriveled fingers ruefully. "She knew
I had to have this waist done up. And
now I've got to go up on the roof
myself and hang the thing out to dry"
But before she went up Sylvia
stopped to obliterate the effect of tears
and to throw scarf jauntily over her
head.
Il might meet some one," she ex-
planned, with demure little smile at
her reflection in the mirror
A strong wind whistling over the
housetops snatched the waist from
Sylyia's hands just as she was pin
ming it to the line and would have
carried it over the edge of the roof
had not help come Unexpectedly.
ooh, thank you-thank you, so
much" exclaimed Sylvia. Then, MOTTO
ing how good looking her benefactor
was, she stopped In confusion.
You're very welcome, I'm sure"
answered Paul, lifting his hat and re-
Stunning his constitutional.
'It's-it's my own waist you see, .
stammered Sylvia.
Paul turned
Els it, indeedY' he replied. 'Then
I'm doubly glad rescued it."
Il mean, Numbered it for myself l
don't go out. Sarah didn't come. 1
didn't think there'd be any one up
here
At this Paul burst into laugh that
even Sylvia in her embarrassment
found contagious.
81 see," he said, "you are the queen
in the garden. hanging out the
clothes"
Sylvia assumed an injured look
"You know that isn't right" she cor
rected. ut was the maid who was in
the garden
Honest, was it?" asked Paul. 81
never was much good on poetry. al
ways thought it was the queen, but I'm
delighted to find it is really both"
Without another word Sylvia vanish
ed, leaving Paul transf1xed with as
constituent.
How deliciously naive and childlike
she isy' he chuckled as he sought a
sunny corner in which to stretch his
lazy length. Having found one, he
smoked a cigarette or two and then fell
to scribbling.
What he scrubbed remained for Syl-
via to discover. This she did the very
next morning, for Sarah, the faithless,
was still conspicuous by her absence,
and there remained handful of fluffy
trifies that had to be Numbered. Syl-
via went at the task with cOmmenda-
BILE resignation. The drying stage
reached, with careless Indifference to
appearances she ran up to the root
ho~ot,oodod or1S5 have o,,,ood @ No onr
was in sight this time to rescue arti
cles vagrantly disposed, each piece was
pinned to the line with a firmness that
defied whirlwinds.
This accom- plished, a scrap of paper
tapping in the side of the chimney at
tracted Sylvia's attention. She pulled
1t out from between the bricks and
read the following:
The man was on the housetop
Seeking recreation.
When suddenly the wind changed,
Bringing variation.
The queen was In the rooftree
Hanging out her gown.
Along came brisk breeze
And blew the thing down.
With a sniff, Sylvia tucked the paper
into her belt. Then she picked up one
of the little stones with which the ROOT
was covered and tried to mark with it
but without success. A small SHARP
pointed stick proved equally futile
Suddenly in a corner she found a burn
ed match. Triumphantly she scratched
word across the rhymes and then put
them back In the chimney.
Here, an hour or two later, Paul
found them. So the queen had not
come into the garden again, he argued.
1t was just as we'll perhaps. He was
about to tear up the nonsense when
Sylvia's scrawling letters caught his
eye.
''Silly," he spelled. and shouted with
amusement.
Then he pocketed the missive, SO
oddly transformed from the ridiculous
to the sublime, and sought his favorite
corner There was no sun shining on
it today, and the wind was bleak, but
he turned up his coat collar and settled
down to a smoke and more scribblings
The latter he soon read aloud:
One bright and sunny morning,
When windy was the weather,
CHANGED to meet young maid,
Sweet as Scottish heather.
began to compliment,
And she began to cry:
"How-do-you-do and how-do-you-do.
And why do you say goodbyY"
After applauding his own perform
ance Paul got up to deposit the effusior
in the friendly chimney crevice. A
miniature wash. however, dangling
near by suggested other possibilities
Closer inspection revealed tiny mono
gram embroidered In the corner of a
cobwe5by handkerchief. There were
undoubtedly other girls in the house
girls who might have monogram hand
kerchiefs- but Paul decided to take the
risk. Accordingly he inscribed his
rhymes ITO S. M" and that he might
not be accused of unfairness signed
his own initials He then fastened the
Jingle with a clothespin to the top Of
lace collar. The monogram hand
kerchief he appropriated.
Later in the afternoon a shower de-
veloped Unexpectedly, and Sylvia
rushed up to the roof. There was no
stopping between drops to read non
sense rhymes, so she gathered them in
with her washing and hurried down
stairs.
"Sillier," was her only comment
when she read them in the privacy of
her room. Then, the loss of her hand
kerchief dawning suddenly upon her,
she pronounced ''P. L." not only a
bold, bad poet, but sneak thief, and
for days Stunned the roof religiously
Finally, however, curiosity got the
better of her. and she ventured to go
up just once more and see what would
happen. The prospect wasn't promis-