Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1908-09-25
A DOuBL MY STERY

a DOUBLE NY S1fRY
Is
lOrigtnal.l
Chester Ward was an angler. When3
summer came around and It was dmel
for vacation he always hied himself
to the woods and waters with bis rod,
established himself at some point
about which fish congregate and pro-
eeeded to enjoy the days. He never
took q companion with him for theI
reason that he had no chum who loved
fishing as he did, and any one whoI
WAS Indifferent to the sport would
spoil it for him.
One summer Mr.. Ward located hisI
headquarters at the village Of D.!
surrounded BY lakes, In which werei
many kinds Of fish, and by streams
well stocked with trout. On the morn
ing after his arrival, before other peo-
pie had risen, he was stepping lightly
along the street Of the village, armed
to the teeth with weapons to attack
lsh, moving In the direction of lake,
when he passed a white cottage with
green blinds. On the porch hung a
small school blackboard, on which war
: ehalked:
Ice-Cream. --y.... ss
Ward surmised that the first was a
notice to the iceman and the second
Z notice to the milkman. Thinking 1t
would be good joke to make sign
Of It, he took up piece Of chalk that
lay handy on window sill and wrote
under the other words "and soda wa.
ter" so that it read:
Ice Greenland Soda Water.
When he returned in the evening the
blackboard had been wiped clean, but
, the next morning when he went out
again he saw written on it:
Fish.
By this time he was a bit ashamed
Of himself for having interfered with
some housewife, as he supposed, In
her notifications to tradesmen, and,
desiring to make reparation, he re-
turned to his quarters and, selecting
fine pickerel from the mess of the day
before, left it at the back door, where
It would doubtless be discovered by
the cook when she came down and
opened up the kitchen for the day.
The next morning as Ward passed
on his daily journey to the fishing
grounds he looked, as usual, for the
notice Of what was wanted in the way
Of supplies The notice read: |
Trout.
It so happened that be had brought
home fine string Of trout the day be-
fore, and, being quite pleased at the
whimsical idea Of furnishing supplies
to the housewife who supposed she
was getting them from the tradesmen,
he turned again to his quarters, got
half dozen fat trout and deposited
them at the kitchen door. He chuckled
to himself at the dialogue between the
housewife and the fshmonger In their
efforts to explain the mystery. There
was bit Of mystery for him as
we'll. On his return evenings, which
was usually about 8 o'clock, when he
passed the house he looked at it, hop.
ing to catch sight Of the housewife,
for at that hour, Of course, every one
In the town was stirring. But never
once did he see human being in or
about the cottage.
On the fourth morning that Ward
went out on his journey the sign on,
the blackboard read:
Berries.
It happened that the route to the
fishing ground was lined with luscious.
blackberrfes. Ward, who by this time
was nearly as much interested in the
requirements Of the white cottage as
with his fishing, hurried on, gathered
couple Of quarts of berries, went
back to the house and deposited them
IN heap on the morning paper. Then
he sped away, fearing some one might
get out Of bed and discover him
The next morning came q surprise.
When Ward looked at the blackboardE
| he did so with wide open eyes. ThereE
was the word:
FloWerk
Now, there were no flowers to bet
purchased in the village, at any rate
at that hour In the morning. But
Ward had seen lots Of wild flowers in
the woods. He repeated his effort Of
the day before. only this time he gath
cred flowers instead of berries, and
hurried back to the house with them.
Instead of taking them to the kitchen
he stepped nimbly on to the porch
, and was about to lay them before the
front door when it opened, and there
stood as pretty girl as he had ever
seen, blushing, laughing and, above
all, her eyes dancing with mischief.
I, He dotted his hat.
| have to thank Won ,, said the girl