Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1908-05-08
HER SERIOUS MOOD.

"Ah, there said he.
And his eye had a certain roguish-
ness, his manner certain whimsical
Ity, and the tone Of his voice was
such that you could have sugared
your tea with it, but as he stood
thero-his ear bent forward to catch
her usual playful answer and his eye
all ready to feast upon her customary
look of love-but as he stood there,
! repeat, she preserved a silence and
all the conventionalities, and the
shadow Of nameess dread lowered
over his imploring countenanUe.
Good evening"" she said.
"Good EVENING"" ne demanded,
with dropping jaw.
eyes" she said.
Good EVENING"" he repeated.
"You say Good evening, EdnaY"-
tho habbergsstod man
"Do you think it will rain?" she
said. "RainY" he cried, and that
nameless dread ceased to hover aud
settled down forthwith. 'RainY
First you say, Good evening", and
then you ask me il it will rain, y and
making a terrible gesture of despair
ing determination he strobe toward
her.
"Edna!'' he said, "what is it that
has come between us2 You must tell
me? Oh, what horrible, horrible
mistake is this that"
"John," she said. "Hush!''
"Ahl" he breathed to the night.
"She calls me '.Iohnl''
And he sought to take her little
hand as though it we're all right now.
"Why, Of course l call you John, :"
she said, keeping her hands to her
self. "John, stop! L want to have a
serious talk with you"
"SeriousY" said John, pausing in
his endeavors and slowly sitting back
with worried, worried look between
his eyes.
eyes, Serious" she said. CHOW,
John, listen Our conversation has
been too frivolous lately-oh, awfully
frivolous Light, you know, John,
and nothing to it," (John made an
eagerly dissenting motion with his
elbows). ono, John, really, there
has been nothing to it--and life is
passing John. We must talk of
things more Instructive; you must
teach me, and [ must teach you-if l
can. There are so many things we
could talk about, John, instead Of
those those awfuIly frivolous things.
| There's tho Panama CANAL was
reading about it all morning. Why,
John, it's just wonderful! And then
there Mars. and the feet, and the
currency-Jo Ohm, you must tell me all
about the currency question-and
there's the Philippines, and Tibet,
and the shah, and earthquakes, and
OBJ, ever SO many things So let's be
sensible from now on and not waste
our time like we have done. Now,
tonight, John, suppose we talk about
derelcts -
"DereIicts" gasped John. "Dere
licts?"
eyes; ocean derelicts--I was read
ing about them all afternoon. John,
did you know that a computation
made by the hydro graphic Office"
(she coughod with pride) "shows
that 1928 dereIicts we're sighted upon
the North Atlantic Ocean within a
| period of seven years"
John said nothing.
eyes" she answered. ''and in as
much as the average term Of survival
for derellct is one month, it Is esti-
mated that at least nineteen must be
constantly floating over the North
Atlantic Ocean"
John sighed.
"Johu," she said, "there are more
derelicts sighted during September,
October and November than during
any other months of the year"
care there?" said John.
eyes," she said, "and here's a
funny thing-I mean strange thing,
john; the pilot charts show that
most of the derelicts have been sight
ed in the Gulf Stream. -
John got up and walked to the win
dow.
why" she said, Zone derelict is
known to have Goated three years and
six days, and to have drifted over
900 miles. She was abandoned off
Cape Hatteras, John, and floated in a
northeasterly direction with the Gulf