The bee., 1910-05-19
aaAClever,Ia
Little Reginald

entered little girl with f0rget-me-
nots on her bonnet was standing on a
seat and reciting In loud, clear tone
the story of Little Miss Muffett. Mrs.
Flyte hurried forward into the second
car.
There she found two small boys,
watched by their admiring parents.
playing tag in the aisle. bag In hand.
abe succeeded In lodging the combat
ants and sought third car.
Az there were no children visible in
that ear she dropped gratefully into q
seat In front OF which bunch Of very
artificial rinSlets was nodding af1rma-
ton to the voluble outpouring Of the
wsaSer Of chantecler hat
Il was not that Mira. F1yte disliked
children. Far from I'll She owned no
houses for rent and she looked back
upon the time when her own young
sters were around the house as the
happiest period OF her life. But. during
the week which she had Just passed
with her niece she had become strong.
ly convinced that 1t Is possible for a
child to be too much in the foreground
OF the domestic scene.
Elaine is, of course, a dear child"
she said to herself, but l wish her
father and mother could manage, &C.
casionally. to talk about something be.
sides her sayings and doings. sup
pose I tried to tell stories about my
own when they were little, but then
they were really rather unusual chill.
dren. Why, Edith walked when she
was only eleven months old and
don't believe there ever was another
child who said as many bright things
as Henry did. But Elaine is really
very ordinary and I'm positively sick
and tired of hearing about her."
Mrs. Flyte's reflections we're inter
rupted by the voice of the woman with
the chantecler hat. H
Dear little Reginald" said the WON
an, will be so lonely! really ought
to have taken an earlier train"
Il wish she had" groaned Mrs. Flyte
inwardly, 'if she's going to sit there
and talk about dear little Reginald"
Evidently, she was, for she contin-
ued: "You wouldn't believe how much
he misses mel Why, the other night
was home an hour late and the tears
actually stood in his eyes when he
ran to meet me. He has such lovely
eyes. and they are such an unusual
color. | noticed last night that his
eyes are exactly the color of mine.
and I've often been told mine were
very unusual-brown. yes, but this
very particular uncommon shade of
brown don't know exactly what you
would call 1t. Isn't It lovely that dar-
ling Reginald's eyes should be exact
ly, that same peculiar and unusual
shadel"
The wearer OF the chantecler hat
talked. apparently. without effort. Her
voice rushed on, like high power au-
tomobile. throwing out a cloud OF
words which drifted over the back Of
the seat. II was Reginald's ablutions
which came in next for discussion.
you Just ought to see him take his
bath. He grows stronger everY day.
/ do believei' DnA
Mrs. F1yte had a distinct remem.
brance that her children had been reg
ularly and properly bathed during
their infancy, but their baths had
never taken on the form OF a public
ceremonial She had been an unwilling
witness to Elaine's bath every
morning during her visit. attendance
at this function being, If not compul-
sorry, at least obligatory on all within
the call of Elaine's admiring mother.
did you ever see the dear little red
sweater we gave him on his birth
day." the voice went on. He's so
proud OF it-yes, he was three years
old the twenty-third Of March-and
he'll run and get It every time put
on my hat to take him eout.s He Isn't
willing to go step without It, even
now that 1t is SO warm. suppose he'll
insist upon wearing it all summer. We
had his picture taken In It the other
day. Oh. you must see his pictures!
I've some of them here in my bag"
The chantecler hat and the bunch OF
artificial ringlets bent close over the
photographs while Mrs. Flyte closed
her eyes upon visions OF Elaine photo
graphed in every possible and impossi.
BILE position-Elaine asleep and awake;
Elaine dressed and undressed; Elaine
crying and smiling; Elaine. in short,
IN every imaginable phase of her ex-
istence from the day of her birth to
the present time. AID each succeeding
representation, according to Eiaines
mother. just little more worthy OF
ones choicest adjectives than any OF
the others.
The train stopped. There was
movement In t,.s next seat and Mrs.
Fiyte opened her eyes to see the
chantecler hat and the bunch OF arti.
ficial ringlets disappear through the
doorway.
AS the train started onward she no
ticed something on the floor. One OF
little ReRinald's photoRraDha had