The herald., 1912-06-13
A BOY AND
A GIRL
By JOHN L. PURDY


, up together. When by the death Of my
mother | was left On orphan my aunt
took me TO live with her. / was then
lad of ten, Bertha a year younger
l was too much of a boy to appreciate
/ Bertha. having very little use for girls
and setting great store by football.
baseball, tennis and kindred games.
have photograph of her when she
was fifteen, and when | look at that
charming little face with those maiden
ly eyes | wonder how could have
been Indifferent 10 her.
Bertha seemed to like 70 be with
me. She was always glad when it
stormed so hard that | couldn't play
outdoor games and was obliged to stay
in the house and play dominos or
checkers with her. games | considered
very dull. And when | was kept in
on account of some indispOsitiOn she
would sit by my lounge or my bed or
whatever rested on and read to me. 1t
did not occur to me to be grateful for
i this. simply regarded it as very
natural thing that the inferior being,
|, girl. should minister to the superior
being. boy.
| remember that though manly in
some things | was ineXpressably weak
In others | regret to say that it usual
ly took me from half to three-quarters
of an hour to get a dose of medicine
} into my stomach. Threats, contempt,
; irony. were insufficient to put enough
! courage into me for the purpose. On
one occasion, after being alternately
! bribed and threatened to no purpose.
l finally made up my mind to have the
| thing over with and took the dose
down at a gulp. When little later I
was asked if l had taken it Bertha.
who was sitting beside me, said, Yes.
and he took it very well too"
That was the first realization / had
, that there was anything admirable in
; girl. Indeed, / was very much
ashamed Of myself and just a trifie
grateful to Bertha for standing up for
me who didn't deserve anything but a
! spanking.
AS we grew older came to consider
myself sort of protector to Bertha.
: looking upon her as something very
weak that needed something very
| strong to keep her out of trouble or
danger, / didn't know exactly what
The truth is that Bertha didn't need
my strong arm at all, while 1 needed
certain moral courage there was in
her very much.
/ Then l went away to boarding
school, and when I returned at six
teen 1t occurred to me for the first
, time that Bertha was rather a pretty
! girl. 1 felt just little proud Of her
and wouldn't mind some Of my boy
friends seeing her. When two years
later l brought one Of my classmates
home with me there was something
about the admiration he expressed for
her that annoyed me exceedingly.
I After that instead of wishing my
, friends to see her / preferred that
they keep away. In fact, was mean
enough not to invite them to my home.
One Christmas while / was at col
! lege some one gave Bertha an es-
, critoire. When / came home for the
gold plated key on a narrow velvet
ribbon about her neck. I asked her
what the key unlocked, and she said
1t was drawer In her desk. asked
her what that drawer contained that
. was so precious. and for reply she
. gave me only blush.
This was worse than introducing a
= friand ond anHuripD bio cd
Of her. Some fellow had been snoop-
ing around, and I wished to know
who he was. OF course didn't want
,. Bertha for myself I had seen sew
eral girls while at college who could
, cut n much finer swath than she.
But what business had any other man
to come into the house, and-well, it
was dead wrong.
! When / returned the next June a
graduate ! found that Bertha had not
| only budded. but bloomed. She was
past twenty She still wore the key.
. didn't see any fellow hanging round
her, but supposed that he was some
where else. was dishonorable
. enough to lay plans to get into the
treasure drawer and learn who he was.
. One day saw Bertha's desk standing
open, and on the blotter she used to
write on was the little key / knew
l had no business to pry into her af-
fairs, but either did not realize what
/, contemplate thing it was to do or
was too deeply interested to refrain
from obeying the dictates of jeal-
ousy. l took up the key and, insert
. ing 1t in the lock. opened the treasure
drawer. On the top of what was in It
was the rascal's photograph. but in an
envelope could feel 1t. I yielded to
temptation and took It out. 1t was my
own picture taken when between boy
and youth.
. Investigating further. I found scrap
of my writing and on reading It rec
ognized something complimentary |
had written her ten years before.
From an Overweening cOnceit drop
ped into q bottomlcss pit OF unworthi-
ness. So great was the change that 1t
was a long while before I could screw
up my courage to tell Bertha ] loved
| her Rut when I recovered nv euua-