Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1912-03-22
A BOY AND
A GIRL
By JOHN |. P'lLJRDY

My cousin Berth;t aud i were brought
up together. When BY the death Of MY.
mother / was left an orphan my aun'
took me to live with her. u. / was then
q lad Of ten. Bertha a year Younger
was too much Of aSbOys to appreciate.
Bertha, having very little use for girls.
and setting great store by football
baseball. tennis and kindred games.
have a photograph Of her when she
was fifteen, and when | look at that
charming little face with those muiden
ly eyes wonder how l could have
been Indifferent to her.
Bertha seemed to like to be with
me. She was always glad when it
stormed so hard that | couldn't play
outdoor games and was obliged To stay
in the house and play dominos or
checkers with her. games considered
very dull. And when | was kept in
on account of some indisposition she
would sit by my lounge or my he'd or
whatever rested on and read to me- it
did not occur 10 me to be grateful for
this. simply regarded 1t as a very
natural thing that the inferior being
girl. should minister to the superior
being. boy. = ja# ~ 8:
remember that though manly in
some things l was inexpressably weak
In others: regret to say that 1t usual
ly took me from half to three-quarters
of an hour to get a dose of medicin
into my stomach Threats. contempt
irony. were insufficient to put enough
courage into me for the purpose. On
one occasion. after being alternately
bribed and threatened to no purpose.
finally made up my mind to. have the
thing over with and took the dose
down at gulp. When little later
was asked If l had taken it Bertha.
who was sitting beside me. said. Eyes.
and he took it very we'll too" +-
That was the first realization I had
that there was anything admirable in
girl. Indeed, was very much
ashamed Of myself and just a trife
grateful to Bertha for standing up for
me who didn't deserve anything but a
spanking, =
AS we grew older l came to consider
myself sort Of protector to Bertha.
looking upon her as something very
weak that needed something very
strong to keep her out Of trouble or
danger. l didn't know exactly what.
The truth is that Bertha didn't need
my strong arm at all, while l needed
certain moral courage there was in
her very much. 49,.
Then went away to boarding
| school. and when l returned at six
teen 1t occurred to me for the first
time that Bertha was rather pretty
girl; felt just little proud Of her
| and wouldn't mind some Of my boy
friends seeing her. When two years
later l brought one of my classmates
home with me there was something
about the admiration he expressed for
her that annoyed me exceedingly.
After that instead of wishing my
friends to see her l preferred that
they keep away. In fact, was mean
enough not to invite them to my home.
One Christmas while I was at col
lege some one gave Bertha an es-
critoire. When came home for the
spring recess she was wearing tiny
gold plated key on narrow velvet
ribbon about her neck. l asked her
/ what the key unlocked, and she said
It was a drawer In her desk. I asked
her what that drawer contained that
was 80 precious. and for reply she
gave me only a blush. n . ;..@4
E This was worse than introducing a
friend and enduring his admiration
Of her. Some fellow had been snoop-
ing around, and l wished to know
who he was. OF course I didn't want
Bertha for myself 1 had seen sew
eral girls while at college who could
cut a much finer swath than she.
But what business had any other man
to come into the house. |and--weli. it
was dead wrong. Fly .... :.5:
When l returned the next June a
graduate found that Bertha had not
only budded. but bloomed. She was
past twenty. She still wore the key.
didn't see any fellow hanging round
her. but supposed that he was some
where else. was dishonorable
enough to lay plans to get into the
treasure drawer and learn who he was
One day I saw Bertha's desk standing
open. and on the blotter she used t..
write on was the little key. knew
j had no business to prv ;sn4.a 49, -.