News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1913-02-19
FIe
Comes
Up
Smiling
BY
CHARLES
SHERMAN
illustrated by Ray Walters
illustrated by Ray Walters
BY
CHARLES
SHERMAN
COPYRIGHT 1912 by Bobbs-Merrill Co.

CODNrlSnt lbl2 Dy bODDs-MeVVlIl &c.
Henrietta flushed, the Watermelon
laughed and the general looked panied
at the thought of any possible lack oil
congeniality.
my dear Billy" said Bartlett, "the
third auto would be extremely handy
for you and your tongue, at least"
Billy glanced miserably from one to
the other. why, daddy, you told me
yesterday"
81 have told you many things" said
Bartlett, both yesterday and the day
before"
He took the general by the arm and
gently but firmly thrust him into his
car, getting in himself and taking the
wheel. The young folk could ride in
the tonneau and Alphonse follow in
the generals car with the luggage.
The cars started down the hill in
the first sweet flush of evening. Birds
were going to bed with noisy upbraid.
ings. A few cows at the pasture bars
watched them pass with great stupid,
placid eyes, jaws going slowly, rhyth'
mically, as they waited for the milk.
ing time.
The Watermelon leaned back in the
deep soft cushions of the big car and
smiled smile of calm and peace and
comfort. The car ran smoothly, noise.
Iessly, little breezes laden with the
sweetness of the approaching night
wandered by, on each side of him was
pretty girl. Tramping idealized! 1t
was living idealized. And that morn
ing, hungry, shabby, unshaved, he had
been content to lie in the sweet lush
grasses of a chance meadow, under
a butternut tree, with the convivial
James and the corpulent Mike He
crossed one well-pressed silken leg
over the other and saw by the way
side, Longing in the shadows, waiting
for the car to pass, the two, James
and Mike-Mike fat, red-faced, dirty,
his frowsy hat pulled aslant over his
from long habit in cold weather, toes
coming out Of his boot ends; James,
clean shaven, but otherwise no better
dressed, no cleaner, both chewing to.
bacco with the thoughtful Illumination
of the cows watching over the pasture
bars at the end Of the wooded lane.
Billy nudged the Watermelon to call
his attention to the two weary figures
by the wayside.
poor fellows" said Henrietta soft
Iy, lest they hear her
The Watermelon glanced at them In
lofty disgust and catching James eye
his own flickered the fraction of ar
inch and he raised his hands languid
ly to adjust the brown silk tie at his
throat. When they had passed, he
turned and waved a graceful farewell
He explained to Billy as they swept OF
into the deepening dusk
'You might as we'll encourage the
poor fellows. They probably want te
ride as we'll as l." And Henrietts
fancied that possibly his father had
looked thus on a Sunday, in the pulpit
of country church.
eyes," agreed Billy. "They may be
perfectly dandy fellows"
"Assuredly," laughed Henrietta.
''The stout one fairly radiated truth
and nobility, a manly, upright youth"
II don't care" declared Billy warm
~. "You can't always tell from ap-
pearances. You ought to know that,
Henrietta. Clothes don't make the
man"
Nor his manners" laughingly re-
torted Henrietta.
Sure" said the Watermelon. IA
Their used to say that manners didn't
count any more than the good apples
on the top of the box to hide the rot
ten ones beneath"
Il think your father was a cynic,"
said Henrietta sharply, into whose ears
Billy had been recounting the sayings
of the absent divine.
YES" admitted the Watermelon, |
abe was"
"Cynicism is a sign Of failure"
quoted Henrietta. "Surely your fathe- |
wasn't cynic."
Eyes, he was" declared the Water |
melon, "and you didn't make that up
yourself. You heard some failure say it. |
Father used to say, and he's right, that !
If man reached forty without becom-
ing cynic, he was a fool and might !
better never have reached forty"
your father was a philosopher"
laughed Henrietta. 81 would like to !
have met him."
81 thought the papers said" began
Billy, in her slow, anxious way to get
things right.
eyes, they did," interrupted the Wa
Rermelon, "and they were right"
1t was quite dark now. Bartlett
stopped a moment while Alphonse lit
the lamps, and then they went on and
on, faster and faster, into the sum-
mer night. Once in while they
passed lighted farmhouse and dog
rushed out and barked at them. Twice
they whirled through small villages
and the villagers, going home from
church, paused to watch them pass
and be swallowed up in the dark
ahead.
The general had been worried for
some time. They were apparently get
ting nowhere. He felt that he should
have consulted the blue book. He