Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1909-08-12

was INC 1Wsc0
est, cleanest. prettiest girl baby you
ever saw. All dressed up In white
lawn suit, with a blue sash, white
half-hose that showed her dimpled
knees and fat little legs, white shoes,
and q white bonnet with a lace frill
around the front, tied under her dim
pied chin with a big white ribbon.
Gee! but she was the prettieGt little
thing that ever struck Arizona, bar
none. | took one look and said:
Angel, angel" You see, went daty
at once.
"Hello!" she repeated as she looked
round the room. 1T is a game? oh
l see. | SPY" Then she padded over
to the end of the bar, pointed one 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:
"One, 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
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:
well, I'm darned!" And If he said 1t
! once he said it 20 times Just stood
/ there like a human hitching-post and
/ phonograph combined and said:
We'll, I'm darned!"
The boys all gathered round from
+ their safety corners, looking as sheep
ish as if the teacher had caught them
chewing gum, but | was too much in
terested in Angel to pay any atten-
ton 10 them then. | always was fond
of dogs and children and things like
that. | knelt down, so as to get some
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 stack of blue on that"
said |. But what's your name?"
Anna Louise, thank you"
You're welcome. All right. III
believe that, even. Anna Louise goes
with me, but Anna Louise what?"
Muffin. Jes' Anna Louise"
And where is mammal"
"Oh, she's right over there" and
she waved her hand vaguely around
to embrace most three-quarters of the
compass. Then she proposed breath
lessly: Les play 'Lunnon 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 l
got on 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 il must
have gotten mixed on their Scripture
or else have waxed sarcastic; but that
now a great light, the bright white
light of truth, had busted in on my
alleged intellect, and Illuminated the
inmost recesses of an ever sluggish
mind CLEAR, heart" from the boys).
An Angel had come to Paradise, said,
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 1t 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 l presumed NO
gentleman present would doubt (lowd
cries of NO mol" from the boys), I
took the liberty Of giving her the
name Of the fair city she had honorsd
with her presence. and proposed .
toast to angel Paradise"
Well, you never saw a toast excite
such enthusiastically not one
drunk In sodsvater.
As we finished the drink, the door
opened with some violence, and chap
rushed in. clad In spats, q white waist
coat, q stif collar, . derby hat, and
some other useless outer habiliments.
His glance fell on Angel, and he
yelped: Me child, me child"
Angel stood there on the bar, vav-
ing a chubby hand, and said: Hello,
pop!"
After he had Gained down, he In
troduced himself as Mr.. Hawthorne Of
Boston, who was touring Arizona for
his wife's health. He explained they
had stopped at the Cowboys Retreat
for a few hours rest, and Angel had
wandered away.
So Bill turned to Angel and said:
Come, sister. get on my shoulder, and
it's us for mamma" Then he swung
Angel up and strobe out of the saloon.
Papa introduced us to mamma and
explained we we're friends of his that
had found Angel and looked after her.
They we're just starting for Tucson In
the hotel surry, and we were soon
forced to say good-by to our little
Angel Paradise. The blessed little
baby patted old Bill on the cheek and