The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-09-25

dS pTODaDIy the largest pair or pa
jamas in Chicago. They saw Little
Jimmie, smothering back his giggIes
like schoolboy, tiptoe from his
berth. enter the next berth, brushing
. the porter aside, climb on the seat,
and clutch the ribbon that pulled the
stopper from the trap.
Down upon the unsuspecting elop-
ers came this miraculous cloudburst
of ironical rice. and with it came Lit
tie Jimmie Wellington, who lost what
little balance he had, and catapulted
into their midst like the offspring OF
an iceberg
1t was at this moment that Mrs.
Wellington, hearing the loud cries of
the panic-stricken Marjorie, rushed
from the Women's Room, absent-mind-
eddy combing totally detached sec
ton of her hair. She recognized IA
miliar pyjamas waving in air, and
with one faint gasp: Jimmie! on this
train" she swooned away. She would
have fallen, but seeing that no one
paid any attention to her, she recov-
cred consciousness on her own hook,
and vanished into her berth, to medi-
tate on the why's and wherefores of
her husbands presence in this car.
DR.. Temple in a nightgown and
trousers; Roger Ashton, in collar
less estate and the porter. managed
TO eXIrIcaIe Mr.. Wellington from MS
plight, and stow him away, though it
! was like putting a whale to bed.
Mallory, seeing that Marjorie had
fed vpOfod his wild
| in general, and rice traps in particu-
lar, by tearing the bridal bungalow to
| pieces, and then he stalked into the
| smoking room, where Ira Lathrop,
homeless and dispossessed, was sound
asleep, with his feet in the chair.
| He was dreaming that he was a
| boy in Brattleboro, the worst boy in
] Brattleboro, trying to get up the cour-
age to spark pretty Anne Cattle, and
| throwing rocks at the best boy In
town, Charlie Selby, who was always
at her side. The porter woke Ira, an
! hour later, and escorted him to the
late bridal section.
/ Marjorie had fed with her dog. as
! soon as she could grope her way
! through the deluge of rice. She hop
! ped into her berth, and spent an hour
/ trying to clear her hair of the null
titudinous grains. And as for Snoozle-
ums, his thick wool was so be-riced
that for two days, whenever he shook
himself, he snew.
Eventually. the car quieted. and
nothing was heard but the rumble and
click of the wheels on the rails, the
| creak of timbers, and the frog like
chorus of a few well-trained snorers.
As the porter was turning down the
| last of the lights, a rumpled pate was
! thrust from the Stateroom, and the
luscious-eyed man whispered:
Porter, what time did you say we
crossed the Iowa state line?'
''Fwo tifty-five a. m
From within the stateroom came a
deep sigh, then with a dismal groan /:
Call me at two fifty-five a. m.," the
door was closed.
Poor Mallory, pyjamaless and night.
shirtless, lay propped up on his pill
lows, staring out of the window at the
swiftly shifting night scene. The state
of Illinois was being pulled out from
under the train like a dark rug.
Farmhouses cleaned or dreamed
lampless. The moonlight rippIed on
endless seas of wheat and Indian
corn. Little towns slid up and away
Large towns rolled forward, and were
left behind. Ponds, marshes, brooks
pastures, thickets and great gloomy
groves flowed past as on a river But
the same stars and the moon seemed
to accompany the train. If the flying
witness had been less heavy of heart
he would have found the Keeling scene
full of grace and night beauty. But
he could not see any charm in all the
world, except his tantalizing other
self, from whom a great chasm
seemed to divide him. though she was
only two windows away.
He had not yet fallen asleep, and
he was still bordering how to attain
his unmarried, unmarriabIe bride
when the train rolled out in air above
great wide river, very noble under
the stars He knew it for the Mis-
sissippi. He heard a faint knocking
on a door at the other end of the car
He heard sounds as of kisses, and
then somebody tiptoed along the aisle
stealthily. He did not know that an
other bridegroom was being separated
from his bride because they were toe
much married.
Somewhere in Iowa he fell asleep.