Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-03-28
ZOE:
Nv Isabel Gordon Curtis.

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KTExT door to US, when was little girl, lived
~ the HoIbroc41. twins. They had big, hand
wonderful ra;ny day play house We walked and
from school together we studied togetner, We o9
schoolgirls Zoe .Holbrooksand were constant com
panions Martha and my sister Sude were inseparabe
Every year after Christmas we used to save our
BBe eoeil ana BATH took pencils ink bottles and
boxes of paper from his window, that he might hlI
found the valentines. gave such wtsoop it could
have been heard at the schooihouse. One year-the
February was teri remember girls found the
valentines at Shaws There gorgeous valentines
with white doves carrying verses IN their
beaks graceful ladies and gentlemen walking IN spleen,
did gardens volets and roses, and the plumpest and
pinkest of little cupids.
whispered Zoe to me, L am going to have the hrst
pick this afternoon. Which one do you like best,
1 decided on a lace paper valentine with rosy Gu
pids smiling through forget-Tne-not wreath Sudie
Sude's and my little purses empty. 1t had
been hard winter and few pennies had come our
way That night when asked father for some val
entine money he looked grave for minute m
sorry, little daughters. he said. but l don't know
You need Shoes and Pm finding it hard work to pay
for food and fire, even"
place. We didn't wish father to our disappoint-
ment.
he said SLOWLY; this winter, though there isn't much
to share up but the Painest living" He laid his rough
I'VE don't want any old valentines, father' cried
Sude while she threw her ia. arms mPnls,yely about
"Ill help you" said mother; there's lots of stuff
in the house that can be used for valentines
What secrets there in the coy living
every evening until the 18th of February! Zoe and
nd there ways a m s
after supper to the Holbrook house.
nothing to them; their father wealthy
Two DAYS before the fourteenth of February, our
vale fnish lad painted
graceful of and violet garlands the most
s Of s 0ys and Pendd s9d and e1So
scissors TILL Sudie said it looked like real point
lace We had pretty valentines for all of our school
mates, but there two thought marvellous
they for Zoe and Martha.
How impatenty we did wait that Valentine Day for
warmly bundled from head foot, waded through the
snow-drfts with the valentines inside our coats Ali
the boys and girls from the North End were over in
the South End playing the Postman' while the boys
peering from darkened windows With shouts and
laughter, we went foundering through drifts afr
each exciting rush UP doorstep to drop valen ;:
We were almost too excited at supper-trne to eat
So mother excused quickly then we few to dark
the Holbrook dining room Zoe and Martha lost their
them We saw the old h ad buste nto the e ds
room The maid followed her with silver teapot
waited to see the girls tuck their napkins under their
chns, then Sude and took our valentines and went
tiptoed up on the piazza and lifted the ZAP of the
1etter-box The valentines dropped the foor then
Sudie gave the bell tremendous pull We heard It
janglng after reached yard, and stood
hidden behind the big double trunked elm. Zoe and
Martha peered into the darkness We watched them
rush into the dining-room. Supper stood untasted
while they bent their heads valentines. Then
mother called in to get
Half hour later mother had darkened the front
part of the house and Sude and wrapped in little
shaws halfway up the broad old-fashioned stair
We looked through the fanlight into the front yard
A splendid moon had come out. although the wind
still shreked ftfuIy Dozens of boys and girls from
knOc1er before
o'clock We had a pile of valentines, bigger than
Sudie and had ever received.
Once for minutes there silence, not laugh
shout in the quiet street, not shadow against
the snow. Then I felt my pnched
1T is Martha" said Sudie, in an excited whisper.
"And Zoe" added.
The girls stole up the garden path The knocker
through the still house, and rushed
to the door. Sudie had almost opened it, when a
blast of wind raped it shut in her face. We pulled
There were no valentines the doorstep. Father
brought lantern, then found white
velopes tucked under the mat Sudies
printed She picked it up and few with it into
the living room. | had not opened my valentine when
heard cry from Sude. She bent her head upon
her On the table beside her lay ugly valen-
tine. 1t pictured a hideous creature with flying
mop of hery-red hair Poor Sude she had but one
griefi Her hair red that rude boys IN school
called her Carrots" Fathers hand patted the red
hair gently
Don't you care, sweetheart" he said at some
young scslawag who doesn't know better. I wish I'd
caught him." he added furiously
1t wasn't boy" / cried in a blaze of fury These
"Oh, no. said mother "the girls would do
such thing"
we saw them." sobbed Sudie; nobody else was
there"