The Huttig news., 1911-03-11
NCopyrieht by shorl storIcs co-- Ltdl

| havoc wrought by the knees and toes of three stout boys was sufficient te engage her most serious attention but her needle slid in and out auto
 matically, and what she saw was not the Installing ehasm through which her plump fingers yet shone. but the face of the football youth, with it's setting Of bushy hair, it's cerulean eyes, and the bit of down which was to the eye of faith an incipient mus tacbe.
 He had come to college raw fresh man only the year before, and he lived with his aunt across the way At the time of his arrival the Lily Maid wore a pigtail and abbreviated skirts. and her indifference to the ad- miring glances of the college youths was to the Fond Parents eye beauti- ful and touching thing Unfortunately it was not destined to last But the Lily Maid was a gentlewonan, and if, during that magic year. as her skirts i descended and her pigtail aspired, she i began to notice the ripple of pleasur- able interest which her morning walk past the college campus invariably oc- casioned, she gave no sign, but went calmly on, as usual, to the door of the Select Seminary for Young Ladies. of which institution she was the acknowl. edged ornament and pride.
 It was late in the spring before the Football Youth mustered courage tt call with his aunt, The Lily Maid was, by that time, a creature not te her summer gowns herself, and if the Fond Parent rather disapproved of tht little train, she was too proud of the young dressmaker's skill to say so; the pigtail had also finished it's jour ney and rested on the little head in q fluffy golden heap. Outwardly, the Lily Maid was young lady. Inwardly. she was very shy little girl; and when the Football Youths visit was ended, and she cuddled down in the Fond Parents capacious lap for one of their frequent private chats, she plainly intimated that she thought the. young man a bore. and that her owf three brothers were really the only en l ioyable boys in town sentiment which the Fond Parent frankly shared
 It developed that the Football Youtl was an orphan, and he naturally spent the summer with his aunt, so much of the summer, that is to say, as ho did not spend on the Fond Parents veranda with the Lily Maid. The Fond Parent watched him sharply enough and was forced to admit tt herself that he seemed really quite a nice child In moment of indiscre ton she presented this opinion of him to the Lily Maid. and was pained to receive the information, enthusiasti cally given, that he was a sophomore in college, that he was head man on the college team, and that he would be twenty years old on the seven teenth of next April. This was not long before college reopened, and the Lily Maid entered upon her senior year at the Young Ladies Select sem mary. Next year she was to go to tho Woman's college at Lynchburg: and the Fond Parent now regarded those halls of learning as haven of refuge provided the child could be landed there with her heart intact
 But trouble was evidently brewing She was blossoming out in a really miraculous way, while the Football Youth was positively radiant, even to the prongs of his auburn hair When, in their confidential chats. the Fond Parent carelessly introduced his name, the Lily Maid fell suddenly si lent, and atoned for her reticence with impassioned squeezes, which took the Fond Parents breath in more senses than one But that sagacious lady troubled though she was, knew better than to snatch at an unripe confidence. which was sure to drop into her hand at last; so she watched with keen eyes which were amused and anxious by turns; and though she seemed to see nothing when the Lily Maid looked her way, she spread so many snares for the unsuspecting child, that the latter went her way with happy con sciousness that when the time came it would not be at all difficult thing to pour her tale into the Fond Parents ear.
 It came about however. as such | things usually do, in quite an unsus- pected way A sudden change came over the Lily Maid. For several days i she went quietly, almost silently, about the house; she no longer turned her head when the maid returned from a trip to the front door; her appetite i Tagged; and the Fond Parent was quite sure, more than once, when she went as usual to the child's bedside at night to see that she was comfort ably tucked in, that Lily Maid was wide awake, though she lay quite still with closed eyes, and gave no sign i that she felt the goodnight kiss. when | it softly touched her cheek in the ac- eustomed place. The situation was clear. even luminous, without the add ed fact that the Football Youth had disappeared from the Fond Parents horizon.
 Having diagnosed the case the next step was to apply the remedy. It was