The bee. (Earlington, Ky.) 1889-19??, 1908-05-14


Good evening" she said.
Good EVENING"" he demanded, with
dropping Jaw
"Yes," she said.
Good EVENING"" he repeated. You
say Good evening" EdnaY'---the fab
bergasted mani
DO you think II will rain?" she
said.
"Rain?'" he cried, and that nameless
dread ceased to hover and settled
down forthwith. Rain? First you
say, Good evening, and then you ask
me IL 1t will rain" and making a ter
rible gesture of despairing determine
ton he strobe toward her.
"Ednal" he said, what is It that
has come between us? You must tell
met Oh, what horrible, horrible mis-
take is this that"
John" she said, "hushl"
"Ah!" he breathed to the night.
"she calls me joint"
And he sought to take her little
hand as though IL were all right now.
why, of course l call you John
she said, keeping her hands to herself.
John, stop! l want to have a serious
talk with you"
"Serious?" said John, pausing in his
endeavors and slowly sitting back
with a worried, worried look between
his ears.
Yes, serious she said. Now,
John, listen. Our conversation has
been too frivolous lately-O, awfully
frivolous! Light, you know, John, and
nothing to it." John made an eagerly
dissenting motion with his elbows)
No, John, really, there has been
nothing to it-and life is passing,
John. We must talk of things more in
structive; 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 awfully
frivolous things. There's the Panama
canal was reading about it this
morning. Why, John, it's just wonder
full And then there's Mars, and the
feet. and the currency-John, you
AnuSL AClA AAC Gil aOOu1 NhC
question-and there's the Philippines.
and Tibet. and the shah, and earth.
quakes, and, o, ever so many thingsl
So let's be sensible from now on and
not waste our time like we have done.
Now, tonight, John, suppose We talk
about derelicts."
'Derelicts?" gasped John. "Dere-
liets?"~
Yes; ocean derelicts-I was read
ing about them all afternoon. John,
did you know that a computation
made by the photographic ONCE"
(she coughed with pride) shows that
1,62S derelicts were sighted upon the
north Atlantic ocean within a period
of seven years."
John said nothing.
YES" she answered, "and inasmuch
as the average term Of survival for
a derelict is one month, 1t is estimated
that at least 10 must be constantly
floating over the north Atlantic ocean"
John sighed.
"John," she said, there are more
derelicts sighted during September,
October and November than during
any other months of the year."
Are there?" said John.
Yes" she said; "and here's a funny
mean a strange thing. Here's
a strange thing. John: The pilot
charts show that most of the derelicts
have been sighted in the gulf stream"
John got up and walked to the win
dow.
Why" she said. "one derelict is
known to have fioated three years and
six days, and to have drifted over
10 700 miles"
He came back from the window aud
stood beside her.
prof. Waters tells about another
ship that was cut in two as the result
1f a collision" she went on, avoiding
lis glance and trying to harden her
voice, but she did not sink. The
stern went north, the bow went
south"
Poor bowl" ne aid. went south,
lid he?"
She hesitated. paused, stopped, and
n that moment the great light shone
or her and the great voice spoke to
Ter. For the first time she understood |
Why men go down to sea In ships,
Why canals are built, why the cannon
oar, why man goes forth at the call OF |
luty springing. She gave John the |
glance that his eyes had hungered for,
md all at once Johns face was shin
ng like q sunburst
"Ahg" he said, returning 10 his
lrst greeting. "Ah, there?"
To which she made learned reply.
81 see you'll"
John turned his head for a moment
0 hide his happiness and then looked
I her again. his eye sparkling with a
certain ROBUSTNESS and his manner
ull Of a certain whimsicality, as he
"ToOt-siel"