The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-05-11
1.-TWO Old Pokes''
Bv CLYDE JOHNSON

tTeSS'
We'll, We are going to have
neighbors," observed Mr.. RathDohe'
the broker, as he showed his chair
back from the dinner table one
evening after his return from the
city.
do you mean that some one has
taken the Smith place. asked the
wife.
Yes, an insurance man named
Franklin. Nice family. Leased II
for five years. Going to move IN
next week. Glad of it."
II don't know whether | am or
not" said Miss Nellie. the daughter.
III they are a couple OF pokes the
house might as we'll stand empty"
Il know they have no daughter.
"Of course not. II they had shed
be Just as disagreeable as she could.
Just two old pokes. and Ola
hope"
"Well?"
THAT they wouldn't be pokes.
Just know how 1t will be. They'll
wander over here of an evening. and
he and you will sit and smoke and
talk politics, and she and mamma Will
swap recipes for dyeing old skirts,
and wherell come In? Do you
know, Dad Rathbone. there isn't .
young man worth cat meat within
three miles of this old country
house,"
"Oh. l see." replied the father.
"You are thinking Of matrimony In
stead Of practicing your music"
i've banged till I'm sick OF 1t.
No, I'm not thinking Of that. but DO
wish there was young man around
here l could make eyes at. was
almost a-mind to firt with one going
by In an auto this afternoon"
Poor girl! Well. guess Ill tell
you the rest Of the story. Those two
old pokes. as you call them, have q
son."
And he's five years old and
lisps?"
Hes twenty.three or whereabouts
and speaks straight from the shout
der. He's a sculptor. l believe been
working on statue for the last
three years"
well, he's got tousled hair. Is al
ways looking into the clouds and can't
tell a handsome girl from homely
one. know the kind"
Guess you don't" smiled the
father. REX Franklin Is right up to
date. Talks we'll. dresses well. and
no pretty girls get away from him.
| expect to have him for son-in.law
within year. Always hoped you'd
marry a sculptor so that your mother
and could be done In marble. He's
going to come and go on the train.
and of course | shall meet him and
speak good word for you"
Thanks. muchly. He'll run after !
look at him twice"
The Franklins moved In. They
didn't look like pokes after all. and
Miss Nellie felt encouraged. She was
not peeping out Of the front windows
morning and evening for a sight OF
that young man. or wondering what
sort OF bait to use to trap him. She
Just waited to know that there was
an eligible party around In case she
wanted to go fishing. He might be
all her father said. and yet she
wouldn't like him. He would have
disagreable traits.
Three weeks had passed and Rex
Franklin hadn't been even sighted
from a distance. He was to drop in
some evening with his parents In
return for a call 1t was so said, and
Miss Nellie took care to have on her
prettiest gown every evening. but no,
on his account-no. sir! Just be
cause she felt like dressing up bit
She practiced the airs Of two or three
songs in harmony with her voice, bu,
that had nothing to do with his com
Ing. She Just liked to hear her own
voice.
And on certain morning Miss
Nellie Rathbone got up feeling ou'
Of sorts with the world. She fell ou'
Of bed instead Of hopping out lik,
. cricket. Then her hair tangled u
she brushed It. Then she found tina
her powder rag had been chewed u
by her Boston bulldog. and about hal
. dozen things had gone wrong whe,
che tripped a. she was going dowl
to breakfast and rolled clear down (,
the hall floor. OF course. che cal,
things. and singulariy enough she sai,
most Of them about the new younl
man next door. He WAS ninny; b.
vas no sculptor: he was homely an
awkward. II he ever dared cali Oh
would make him look small
II Rex Franklin had known this b
would have Numbered back mo!
when his mother asked him to 10
hammer and . nail to secure q shell
The hammer was broken. but 1t he
suggestion he gaily trotted over I
the Rathbone house. And right ther
was the turning point Of his life.
Miss Nellie had found the oatmes
UNDERGONE and the coffee muddy. an
had laid both at the door Of the ne,
young man. when she started out {
feed the doves. There was a lars
flock Of them. and the feeding too
place twice . day. Poised over he