The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-02-15
CHAPTER [.
rhe KissIna of Miss sheraton.

The Kissing oF Miss Sheraton. R ADMIT l kissed her. Perhaps l
 should not have done so. Perhaps N l would not do so again. Had l
 known whar was to come could not have done SO Nevertheless I did.
 After all. it was not strange. All things about us conspired to be ac cessory and fncendiary. The air of the Virginia morning was so soft and warm; tue honeysuckIes along the wall were so lanEuid. sweet; the bees and the hollyhn up to the walk SO fnt and IazS; the smell of the orchard was so rich; the south wind from the fields was so wartOn. Moreover, l was only tweuty-siX.
 So this as how it happened that threw the reins of Satan. my black horse. over the hooked iron of the gate at Dixinna farm and strode up to the side of the stone pillar where Grace Sheraton stood. shading her eyes with her hand. watching me approach through the deep trough road that fattened there near the Sheraton lane. So I laughed and strode up and kept my promise. l had promised myself that I would kiss her the first time thnt seemed feasible. l had even promised her-when she came home from Philadelphia so lofty and su perior for her stopping a brace Of years with Miss Carey at her Allen dale Academy For Young Ladies' that if she mitigated not something of her haughtiness I would kiss her fair. as if she were but girl of the country.
 She stood in the shade of the stone pillar. where the ivy made a deep green and held back her light blue skirt daintily in her high bred way. for never was a girl Sheraton who was not high bred or other than fair to look upon in the Sheraton way-slen- der, rather tall. long checked. with very much dark hair and a deep color under the skin and something of long curves withal. They were ladies. ev- cry one. these Sheraton girls. and. as Miss Grace presently advised me. no milkmaids wandering and waiting in lanes for lovers.
 When I sprang down from Satan Miss Grace was but pace or so away. J put out a hand on either side of her as she stood in the shade and so pris- oned her against the pillar. She flush
 
 both hands. which made me smile. for few men in that country could have put away my arms from the stone un- til 1 liked. Then l bent and kissed her fair and took what revenge was due our girls for her Philadelphia man. ners.
 When she boxed my ears kissed her once more. Had she not at that smiled af | ak boOr. admit As she did and as in my innocence supposed all girls did. presume 1 may be called but a man as men go. Miss Grace grew very rosy for a Sheraton. but her eyes were bright. 50 1 threw my hat on the grass by the side of the gate and bow ed her to be seated. We sat and look ed up the lane which wound on to the big Sheraton house and up the red road which led from their farm over toward our lands. the John CowIes farm. which had been three generations in our family as against four on the part of the SheratOns' holdfags-a fact which 1 think always ranked us in the Sheraton soul a trifle lower than them Selves
 <@e were neighbors Miss Grace and !, and as l iazily looked out over the red road. unOccupied at the time by even the wabbling wheel of some ne gro's cart, I said to her some word of Our being neighbors and of its being TO sin for neighbors to exchange the courtesy of greeting when they met upon such a morning. This seemed not to please her. Indeed. l opine that the best way of a man with maid is to make no manner of speech what ever before or after any such incident