Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1909-07-29

"HellO!" she repeated as she looked
round the room. 1T is a game? Oh
/ see. l spyl" Then she padded over
to the end of the bar, pointed n fat
little finger at Pap Johnson behind
the ice-box, shouted gleefully: Il
spy" and ran to Bill Jernigan. She
slapped old Bill on his empowered
legs and said:
zone, two, free for you! Now you
are it! All the res is home free"
Then she threw both arms around
Bills left leg and waited for the boys
to come home" You ought to have
seen Bill. He looked at me sort Of
dazed like, then looked down at the
baby, then looked away far off some
where, and said in a faint whisper:
We'll, I'm darned!" And if he said it
once he said it 20 times. Just stood
there like a human hitching-post and
monograph combined and said:
We'll, Pm darned!"
The boys all gathered round from
their safety corners, looking as sheep
ish as if the teacher had caught them
chewing gum, but l was too much in
terested in Angel to pay any atten-
ton to them then. l always was fond
of dogs and children and things like
that. / ! nelt down, so as to get m
where near on a level with that little
white bonnet, and asked:
Whose little girl are you, honey?"
Mammals" was the prompt reply.
I'D bet a stack of blue on that"
said |. But what's your name?"
Anna Louise, thank you"
You're welcome. All right. I'll
believe that, even. Anna Louise goes
with me, but Anna Louise what?"
J Muffin. Jes' Anna Louise"
"And where is mamma?"
sob, she's right over there" and
she waved her hand vaguely around
to embrace most t~hree-quarters Of the
compass. Then she proposed breath
lessly: Les play 'LuInon Bridge
It's the mos'est fun"
We told her we would like to but
that we had forgotten how.
Bill then swung her up on the bar
and gravely asked her what she would
have to drink. She wanted soda-wa-
ter and We all took the same, although
some of the boys objected.
When the drinks were all in hand
got on a chair and made an eloquent,
ornate and highly popular speech, in
which | said that never before had
| seen the wisdom of naming our
thriving municipality Paradise" and
that at times it had seemed to me
the party or parties naming it must
have gotten mixed on their Scripture
or else have waXed sarcastic; but that
now a great liglSt, the bright white
light of truth, had busted in on my
alleged intellect, and illuminated the
inmost recesses of an ever sluggish
mind ("Hear, heart" from the boys).
An Angel had come to Paradise, l said,
a sweet little angel straight from
heaven, or st. Louis, or somewhere.
Her given name might be Anna Louise,
as she told us, but if so it was a mis-
take. Angel she was, and Angel she
must be. And inasmuch as she had
, no other name, according to her own
{ statement, a statement | presumed no
| gentleman present would doubt cloud
t cries of mo, mol" from the boys), ]
I took the liberty of giving her the
name of the fair city she had honored
with her presence, and proposed 8
toast to Angel Paradise" .
q Well, you never saw a toast excite
such enthusiasm-certainly not one
q drunk in ~soda-water.
y AS we finished the drink, the doc
d opened with some violence, and a chal
d rushed in, clad in spats, a white waist
" coat, a stiff collar, a derby hat, ant
some other useless outer habiliments
u His glance fell on Angel, and b,
s. yelped: ME child, me child"
t Angel stood there on the bar, waV
d ing a chubby hand, and said: Hello
'e pop!"
After he had Gained down, he in
lie troduced himself as Mr.. Hawthorne O
T. Boston, who was touring Arizona TO
" his wife's health. He explained the
had stopped at the Cowboys Retrea
lg for a few hours rest, and Angel ha
lie wandered away.
IN SO Bill turned TO Angel and said
er Come, sister, get on my shoulder, an
it's us for mamma" Then he swun
X Angel up and strobe out of the salooI
Papa introduced us to mamma an
explained we were friends of his thf
70 had found Angel and looked after he
III They were just starting for Tucson
aV the hotel surry, and we were SOC
ne forced to say good-by to our lit
Angel Paradise. The blessed lit
DIS baby patted old Bill on the cheek ar
TX said: II love co. and then, seeing
zy looked disappointed, which l was, 81
g~raciously said: AN 90, too. An q
of 90" as she took us all in with
d. wave of the hand. And the last v
III saw of her she was flirting mamma
re handkerchief from the back of Il
'or surrey as it disappeared in the du
nu around the bend.
On our way back to Pete's, B
MS put his arm around my shoulders al
iu said:
Lonesome, I'm some fond of r.
o pepper on hash myself"
w I grinned a little and he went on:
"And Lonesome, come to think
over, that fellow was a rotten b
ita actor, anyhow"
or We had reached Pete's and we
ian just going in when he squeezed me
he little:
lri- Furthermore, Lonesome, when
led was talkin' abo ropln steers
onntoh ,tou in NV mind all the tina