The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1912-07-30
Raising Ell.

ne lunch that hung around; We
didut have anything to do, nor did
ze want anything 70 do, We just lived
o. he old man, or were bunch that
lived on their wits as best they can
My mother used TO tal2 20 ne Of
how / was below Iny level, and my
.s,her used TO conner me up and give
ne the Yey devil; M girl IA nice
girl vas she) BEGAN TO Jose interest ii
ne 70 such degree that well. whg
: Just put things ,ogether-s1ch as
mothers pleading and fathers rails
ing Cain. and the way ny giTl inti-
mated that ! vas going insane, till J
.oos h1nch and cut the whole bloom
.nz bunch Of louuze.-around down il
n town
got 3o3 il store; got $500
3er. wouldn't pay any more; boarded
:: home. anl decided that l. was no
more than righ, that settle for my
lldeiag every Saturday night
Somehow ! got 70 staying home at
nights, and they way I used to study
an ~ the bill for lights.
Mother tod me that now was get
ting N M level; and father, well, eh
ceased to raise the devil; and my girl,
one Sunday afternoon when we were
Talalng round, Looking at the sights
0: the town; as she held on to my
hand. kind OF confidentially said 10
me. If you keep a-going along the
same route, why, wouldn't be sur-
prised to see you the fellow I'd like
ron 10 be-"
But the bunch Of loungers-around
said all sorts OF things 10 me, but
1nat they said didn't bother me.
They said ! was gutter and the
like; a tight wad like "Uncle Ike
and at nights as home they reeled,
they'd say I'd hold dollar till the
eagle squealed.
So tight-wad they dubbed me,
and as a tight-wad they snubbed me,
but | kept on a-sawing wood--keDt on
making good.
When / started an account with a
B. Il L., they hunched each other and
said, Now he thinks he's raising
ell" but as they talked more and
more, | just kept "a going, but little
faster than before.
Days and months and years rolled
by, and / kept a-plugging and kept
a-tugg.ng, and If every week to make
deposit with the p. e l.. was raising
ell, well, was raising ell.
It was late Saturday afternoon
Just the time In my town that lovers
spoon-that my girl and took iaunt
out Of the town to the incest little
spot, and instead Of thinking Of things
which lovers sometimes do, we decid-
ed there and then, with the aid of the
y. & l.. to buy a lot and build bung
allow for two
1t amt been so very long since l
cut the bunch-not so very long since
| got the hunch--but lot OF things
can happen in SO short a time that
really one ould never divine.
Why, since then, some of the bunch
are in the pen; some who used to
laugh and goad are now hoboes on
The road, some who had promising
gifts are ordinary blanket stiffs, and
some who drank till they were sots
are now housed in holes six by two
in cemetery lots.
Yes, so many things can happen one
would never divine-so many things
in so short a time-why, I'm the man
ager of store-yes, the manager and
something more; I'm the owner of the
store.
Yes, by the aid of the B. & L., I've
gone right on raising ell, and I've
built the bungalow for two, but looks
as if should have built it for a few.
We've got the incest kind OF father
and mother-in-laws, and they are
tickled to death at being grandpas
and grandmas; and the little tots are
the cutest thinks you ever saw. Ones
boy and the other a girl, and they
are all our world-one LOOKS IKE me