The central record., 1912-12-06
ONCE KEPT A DAIRY
BY KENNETH JONES.

II y
iooking?" inquired the little stenogra-
pher as she turned toward the book
keeper and scrutinized him carefully
before opening her desk for the day.
Did you ever keep a diary?" asked
the bookkeeper by way of reply.
"Oh, you poor mani" exclaimed the
little stenographer, understandingly.
Some one found it, of course"
He nodded and sighed.
"Of course, I might try to comfort
you by saying we all learn by expert
ence and there's nothing that time
doesn't heal and such things, but l
won't. It's all just so much rubbish
70 the person you try to comfort. So
Ill just admit that it's a perfectly aw-
ful scrape. l can see that some one
has found it who oughtn't to know"
MY kid brother" explained the
bookkeeper, laconically.
What! AS bad as that?" exclain-
ed the little stenographer, Mortified.
Its one l kept quite a while ago
and I'd forgotten it." began the book
keeper, frightening up at the prospect
OF unburdening his mind and gaining
sympathy. Il noticed for two or three
days that Bill was grinning at me in
a mysterious way and this morning he
made known the secret. He found
1t In an old coat pocket up in my
closet. 1 used the pocket as a hiding
place. and haven't had that coat out
In ages to go through the pockets.
You see," he went on, 81 kept that
diary when had an awful case Of un.
dying love for girl, and, of course,
It's all about her. When I see her
coming now I make a bee line for the
next corner and turn the other way.
Why, l never even want to meet any
one with her first name. But nv
present feelings didn't influence what
1 wrote in that diary-not a bit!
When 1t happened 1 was ashamed
Of going with any girl and l kept it
all secret, telling the folks at home
that l was going to be out with some
of the fellows when I went to see her.
And as the diary wasn't dated-for 1
considered that unnecessary-there's
no proof that the whole thing isn't of
present standing,
"Bill called me aside today and
whispered audibly, so the whole fam
lily heard: Have you written In
your diary this morning" When l
looked my surprise-for, Of course, the
truth didn't dawn on mo for a Sec
ond-he laughed and pulled out the lit
tie red leather book, That brought
1t all back with lightning speed. Then
he darted out of the door before /
could get hold of him.
THE family began to make inuuir.
les. Soon Bill put his head in at the
window and said he wanted to speak
to me a minute. When / refused he
called out: oh, we'll, I'll just read
a page from this little red book to
anuse the family So hs began to
shout some silly trash about Mildred.
l rushed out huFrfedly to buy him off.
But be won't be bought off. That
Is, Rot once for all. He demanded 81
this morning, because his roller skates
need to be put into condition. I've
always thought 10 cents 100 much for
him, so you can imagine that the dol
lar came hard. But he wouldn't part
with the book, and although begged
him all morning until left to give il
to me he simply thought up schemes
for levying blackmsil,
I don't dare thrash him and take
away the book, because he's quoted
SO much OF tt from memory that ]
know he's got 1t all by heart, and he'd
repeat 1t with interest II given half a
chance. If he did, of course, couldn't
disprove 1t. without showing the orig,
irall
And to think 1t was about Mildred,
Why, she's putty-faced and has the
disposition Of poodle, and she hasn't
any more style than bag Of pota.
toes. and-oh, she's absolutely the
limit! Bill would go and read the
whole thing to her In a minute IL he
took the notion. / don't know how
I'm going to exist! I'm totally In his
power, and 1t means ball games even
when I have previous engagements,
1t means taking him along in the eve.
nings II he wants to goi 1t means a
thousand trials that will make death
a blessed thing to contemplate,
why on earth do people make
such fools of themselves? What good
did 1t do me to keep that horrible
diary, anyway? I never read it over
and it makes me hot to think OF the
good summer hours I wasted writing
the stuff just to amuse Bill"
But why doat you let him do his
worst?" asked the little stenographer.
It'll only make Mildred know you did
care once-and she knows you don't
now. And you don't care If your fam
lily knows that you've got over your
foolishness!"
"Yes," bitterly responded the book
keeper, "and Bill would hesitate only
about five minutes before he'd take 1t
over to Grace, and, then"
"Oh!" The little stenographer shook
her head. Perhaps you'd better hur.
ry and elope with Grace" she sug.
gested as she began cleaning the keys
of her typewriter.-Chicago Daily
News.